Does your child's dentist recommend sealants?

[lindberg99]

I've been taking my kids to a pediatric dentist and she never mentioned sealants. My oldest DD (10) has had a few cavities, middle child (8) has had one and the youngest (4) has had a few.

I just started taking the older two to a different dentist (a general dentist). I liked the ped dentist but she was like a 50 min drive away and it was getting too hard to take them to appointments with school, activities, etc. I still take the 4 yo there though.

The general dentist asked if I wanted to get sealants for my 8 yo. I told him I needed to think about it. I'm not sure what to do and wondering why the ped dentist never recommended them (maybe I should call up and ask her).

Does your child's dentist recommend them? Have you gotten them for your kids? I read this article today at the Dr. Ellie site and it's making me kind of skeptical about them. http://www.zellies.com/store.asp?pid=10941

[Nikki Christina]

yes. both my older dd'd have sealents

both have low enemal & have caps.
the oldest had a TON of caps.her teeth started going bad as soon as she got them.. she had 10 caps done at age 2 on her top front 6 teeth & her 1st molars (allthough shes 7 now & most of those have fallen out & shes gotten healthy adult teeth)
the 2nd molars came in after the caps where done and where sealed as soon as she got them

middle dd is 3 now. she had 2 caps done at 1 1/2 & her 1st molars where sealed .
she got a cavity on 1 of her 2nd molars & recently had it filled & both of them sealed.

[cadejaxellamom]

My oldest son just had 2 sealants put in on his top molars, I was on the fence about it (and I'm scared to go and read that article now) but he has my teeth (poor thing) and has already had 3 cavities. And he doesn't drink soda or juice, only milk at school with lunch, only sugar free gum (with xylitol), no candy, we don't eat high fructose corn syrup, he takes cod liver oil with the correct ratio of vit A & D every day and he flosses EVERY day. I was very concerned about the possible BPA I have heard about in sealants but my dentist assured me that the kind they use is BPA free...I hope I did the right thing :

[3kidsclmr]

My dentist just gave me info. about some kind of enamel-based sealant for my 5 yo. I have the ingredients list- looks like mostly silica, and I think it might have flouride implanted in it? I'm on the fence... he doesn't have any cavities yet, but if you read the sealant brochure you feel like your kid's going to get cavities immediately if you don't seal the molars!

[Devaskyla]

My kids have a kind of cap instead of sealant. It's silver coloured & definitely not amalgam. It covers the whole tooth. The dentist did them on their molars...too bad ds2 got another set of molars *just* after the surgery.

I had a sealant in my molars when I was a kid.

[lindberg99]

I decided to get them for sure on my 10 yo. I thought I remembered her getting them and then the dentist mentioned that it looked like one had fallen off. So he's going to redo it.

Thanks for the advice!