Protecting Teeth From Decay

Another way to protect teeth from decay is to have fissure sealants placed on the teeth. These safe and painless sealants are a protective plastic coating that is applied to the biting surface of the teeth, which forms a hard shield that keeps food and bacteria from getting into the tiny grooves in the teeth and causing decay.

Fissure sealants are only applied to the back teeth as these are the teeth that have small hollows (pits) and grooves (fissures) on the biting surface. If the grooves are big, your dental team will advise these teeth to be sealed however, if they are shallow, they will not need to be sealed as there is less chance of tooth decay because food and bacteria are less likely to get stuck.