EDUARDENT

Dental cavity prophylaxy is a wish of both the dentists and of the patients and is represented by a complex of methods among which, alongside fluorization on general or local way, bucal-dental hygiene and food hygiene, dental sealing also counts.

Dental sealing or sealing of occlusal grooves and bevels represents the prophylaxy for fissure cavities, namely those cavities that are found on the occlusal surfaces of teeth (that is on those used for chewing), these cavities also appear due to the fact that many times the entrance in these fissures is smaller than the diameter of the hairs in the toothbrush, situations when deep fissures create great chances of food retention and bacterial plaque, ideal factors for the starting of cavity attack. That is why the sealing of occlusal grooves is logically considered as being the safest method of primary prophylaxy, being a method to immunize the dental surfaces of the recently errupted teeth and is realized with transparent or opaque compozite resins, nowadays being preferred photoactive sealants, that is, those that harden with the help of the ultraviolet special lamp.

Transparent sealants allow the detection of margin cavities or of current cavities from early stages, while the integrity of opaque sealants is easier to be verified.

This is what the work stages for teeth sealing consist of:

Cleaning of tooth surface - it is made with rotating brushes, after which there follow the surfaces washing and drying with water and air spray. Tooth milling is not used!
Mordanting of enamel (acid etch) - phosphorous acid is used in a concentration of 37% under the form of a solution or a gel with a more fluid consistency, applied by brushing, injecting or with the help of a well condensed sponge or cotton swab; the phosphorous acud is let to act 15-30 seconds, then follows the washing with water for 10-15 seconds and the drying with water and air spray. The enamel surfaces will have a flat chalky white aspect.
Application of the sealant: it is realized with the help of some special applicators with a single-use point; the sealant must cover all the grooves, bevels and the sides of the adjacent cuspids. The sealant is maintained for 10 seconds, to allow saturation and the optimal penetration of the mordanted enamel. In case of a sealant with photoinduced catch, it is photopolymerized for 60 seconds.
Functional adaptation - redoing of the functional morphology of the sealed surfaces is done by the occlusion verification with jointing paper and removal of premature contacts with diamonded stones.
Reasessment of patient - it is a necessary stage, the sealant integrity being verified every 6 months. The result's maintaining in time depends on: the technique's accuracy, quality of the used products, polymerization mode, type of occlusion relationships, oral hygiene.

Dental cavity incidence following the sealing introduction is reduced by 65-80% and that is why we recommend dental sealing as a method to be chosen in the dental cavity prophylaxy in case of definitive teeth with well expressed grooves and bevels and recently errupted on arches.

THE CAVITY INDICATOR