Dental Sealants Prevent Cavities

 

This infographic shows a dental care professional with protective eyewear, mask, gown, and gloves placing a small dental mirror in a child’s mouth to view his teeth. Graphic images of a tooth without sealant, tooth with the sealant applied and the tooth with final sealant are shown:

Dental sealants can prevent cavities when applied to molar teeth.

• Tooth without sealant
• Sealant is applied
• Tooth with final sealant

School-based programs are one way to reach millions of children with sealants to prevent cavities.

---

 

This infographic shows a chart with the percentage of children with sealants for the 1999-2004 and 2011-2014 survey years:

School-based sealant programs are effective but underused.

Sealant Use

Disparities are decreasing over time

The number of low-income children with sealants increased by about 70% from 1999-2004 to 2011-2014, and the number of higher-income children with sealants increased by 23%. The increase in sealants among low-income children prevented almost 1 million cavities.*

% of Children with Sealants	Low-Income/High-Income Children	Survey Years
23	low-income	1999-2004
39	higher-income	1999-2004
39	low-income	2011-2014
48	higher-income	2011-2014

SOURCE: NHANES, 1999-2004 and 2011-2014.

*Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 2014: http://bit.ly/2cZXOYh

---

This infographic shows the percentage of low-income and higher-income children with and without sealants  who get cavities:

Cavities

Disparities still exist

Low-income children without sealants have about 60% more cavities in their 1st permanent molars than higher-income children.

# of 1st Molar Cavities Per 100 Children	Children With/Without Sealants	Low-Income/Higher-Income Children
82	Without sealants	Low-income
52	Without sealants	Higher-income
29	With sealants	Low-income
19	With sealants	Higher-income

SOURCE: NHANES, 1999-2004 and 2011-2014.