I keep hearing this question. I recently treated a tooth where the answer to this question was seen very closely. So I quickly took a picture of this tooth. I’ll show you now:
In this photo you can see a typical sealed tooth. The fissures, i.e. the visible gaps on the tooth surface, are sealed with thin plastic ("sealed"). I bored the front part of the tooth, between the two front bumps, with my turbine because the patient had a toothache. In the V-shaped part you can see from the front of the tooth to the white, superficial seal. From the outside, the tooth looked perfectly healthy. There was no sign of brown discoloration. Beneath the sealing plastic you can now see a brown tooth part a good two millimeters deep, which was soft and putrid and caused the patient’s toothache. I found the pathological change on the dental X-ray, a bitewing X-ray, on which an unnatural whitening was visible in the middle of the tooth. Without the X-ray, I would not have found out WHICH tooth was the cause of the patient’s complaints. He felt only very diffuse pain without being able to say which tooth actually hurts him. This happens quite often, and many patients don’t even feel whether the pain is from the upper or lower jaw. Some even feel a diffuse headache and have no idea that a tooth could be the cause of this headache.
The word SEALING has a very sympathetic, preserving sound in the ears of those who let their teeth stick together. The word suggests security against destruction, or at least increased durability. Everyday life is known for sealing a wooden floor, sealing a letter or sealing a car paint. It is always about protecting things that are dear and worthy of you. So how should sealing teeth be something inappropriate and harmful??
The insidious thing is that the sealed tooth gaps are no longer controllable by the dentist. We all know from childhood that one should not only brush teeth twice a day, but also go to the dentist twice a year. The dentist looks closely at the teeth and can use his dreaded probe to check whether the tooth surface is hard and healthy. He no longer has this control option if the endangered tooth parts are covered by a white plastic layer. For example, damage can often go unnoticed for a long time until it is finally noticeable through pain or can be seen in the X-ray image. Then it is quite late and a lot of tooth substance has become unnecessarily broken.
| Actually, I don’t need to explain much anymore, do I? In many cases, the supposed security that one believes to buy with tooth sealing turns out to be a dangerous trap. Tooth damage often becomes unnecessarily large under the beautiful, white plastic layer and, when it is finally discovered, requires disproportionately large repairs in which much tooth substance can be lost. There is also an unfavorable psychological effect: many of us love their convenience and believe that by having a tooth seal, they can at least partially buy themselves out of the need for thorough dental care. Many parents who have difficulties with dental care for their children because the children do not want their parents to brush their teeth believe that they can buy their teeth with a tooth seal. In toddlers, parents are absolutely responsible for the condition of their children’s teeth. It is only from elementary school age that children can be expected to make an active contribution to caring for their teeth. Before that, they are usually simply too clumsy. The painful, putrid results of such an attitude towards dental care unfortunately have to endure the poor children. But the parents are happy to reject any responsibility because they do "even" have a tooth seal done. |
So you can clearly see the reasons why I don’t offer dental seals in my practice. I much prefer to be able to look at and check the teeth of my small (and large) patients regularly and sensibly. Then I can recognize damage in good time and do not need to drill away a lot of tooth substance if there is a small rotten area. I can do a lot more to keep my patients’ teeth healthy and whole for a lifetime than the apparent and deceptive ones "safety" a tooth seal.
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