DO YOU FEEL guilty about the state of your child’s teeth, or are you worried about your own slapdash brushing technique? A solution might be “fissure sealing”, a procedure in which the fissures (the deep and narrow grooves) in the chewing surface of the back teeth are coated to protect them from decay.

The sealing process takes about 10 minutes per tooth. First, the tooth is polished; then, after a gel is applied, the fissure sealant (a transparent resin) is painted on and set with a blue “curing” light. Finally, the tooth bite is checked and the teeth buffed.

According to the British Society for Paediatric Dentistry, fissure sealing is “a highly effective and non-destructive” form of prevention against tooth decay in children.

The technique is used primarily to protect permanent (molar) teeth, but any tooth needing protection can also be sealed. Older children and adults can also have the treatment.

As Dr Gordon Watkins, chairman of the British Dental Association health and science committee, says: “It’s an ideal method of preventing decay with no known adverse effects or complications.”

Figures from the Dental Practice Board show that the use of fissure sealing has increased by 29 per cent in the past four years. The treatment is available privately and on the NHS (which offers the treatment free to children with a history of dental decay in baby teeth and who would therefore be vulnerable to further decay). Private dentists charge from around £7 to £15 per tooth.

Most sealants last up to five years, depending on how hard food is chewed. The sealants can easily be replaced, providing there is no decay underneath requiring treatment.

But before you rush your children off to have their teeth done, the Department of Health suggests that it is “not advisable where there is no history of dental decay in baby teeth or newly erupted permanent teeth”. It is also rarely worth sealing a milk tooth, or having the procedure when decay is so advanced that it is better to administer a filling.

MICHELE QUESTEL

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