Pit and Fissure Sealants

Newly erupted posterior teeth in both the primary and permanent dentitions are vulnerable to dental caries attack due to deep, uncoalesced, and not-so-soundly mineralized pits and fissures as compared to their matured counterparts. Therefore, it is more important to “catch them young” before it becomes too late to save them from the deleterious effects of dental caries. Sealing such immature morphological structures with an appropriate sealing material is one of the primary prevention strategies Though this therapy sounds and appears simple, when conducted improperly, it results in the failure of the treatment motto. Hence, there is a need to gain in-depth knowledge of the material, intricacies in the proper selection of the teeth, technique and the behavior of the therapy eventually.
This chapter provides an overview of the historic background and recent evidencebased clinical recommendations for the use of fissure sealants. It describes the different morphological variants of fissures and a wide range of commercially available products with their dispensing means. This writeup also enlightens the conceptual understanding of sealing non-cavitated fissures, therapeutic fissure sealing and smooth surface sealing. Troubleshooting in sealant therapy along with adverse reactions is also described.

Keywords: Dental Sealants, Glass Ionomer Sealants, Occlusal Caries, Pits and Fissures, Preventive Resin Restorations, Primary Prevention.