I want to thank the American Dental Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs and all the participants for the work that went into the March JADA association report, "Evidence-Based Clinical Recommendations for the Use of Pit-and-Fissure Sealants: A Report of the American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs" (Beauchamp J, Caufield PW, Crall JJ, et al. JADA 2008;139[3]:257–268). The article represents a superb review of the subject and serves as an important resource for the clinician.
Muhammad Ali said, "It’s not bragging if you can back it up." So, at the risk of being accused of tooting my own horn, I’d like to bring to the JADA readers’ attention a sealant method that was not mentioned in the report. For more than 10 years, using traditional bonding methods originally and, later, using a self-etching resin bonding system, I have been sealing pits and fissures with a resin-based composite highly filled restorative material.
In my observations, these "reinforced sealants" are durable and long lasting. I have yet to repair or replace even one of them since the mid-1990s. Because this method of sealing teeth has never been put to the test of controlled scientific study, the technique could not have been included in evidenced-based clinical recommendations. That doesn’t mean, however, that it is not a good way to seal teeth.
I am offering the references below1–3 in hopes that a dental researcher or research team may be interested in "reinforced sealants" and be motivated to verify scientifically the value of sealing teeth with resin-based composite restorative material.
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REFERENCES
