Dental sealants provide a physical barrier and effectively protect the pits and fissures on the biting surfaces of teeth from dental decay.

Numerous studies confirm that sealants are a cost-effective intervention. As documented by the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center in a fact sheet entitled “Preventing Tooth Decay and Saving Teeth with Dental Sealants”, the 1999 average cost of applying one dental sealant was $27, compared with the average cost of filling that same tooth at $73.77.  

Application of dental sealants for children aged 8 years increased from a prevalence of 23 percent in 1994–1998 to 32 percent in 1999–2004. Over that period, sealant application for children aged 8 years increased among all racial and ethnic groups for whom data were available: from 29 percent to 38 percent among non Hispanic whites; from 11 percent to 23 percent among non-Hispanic blacks; and from 10 percent to 19 percent among Mexican Americans. The target for all population groups is 50 percent.  

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy People 2010 framework set a goal of increasing the proportion of children who have received dental sealants on their molar teeth to 50%.  

As the chart shows, only a handful of states have reached this goal.

 

 

About this Project

The DentaQuest Institute has made sealants the focus of its 2010 quality improvement project.

"Sealants," writes the ADA, "are under used, particularly among those at high risk of experiencing caries; that population includes children in lower-income and certain racial and ethnic groups (2008)."

The Institute's Dental Sealant Initiative aims to increase the proportion of children aged six to eight and adolescents twelve to fourteen in safety net dental practices who have sealants on one or more permanent molars.

 “This is not simply a matter of applying sealants,” said Brian Souza, Managing Director of DentaQuest Institute. “Our protocol combines outreach, education, application of sealants, analysis of structural issues that advance or impede the delivery of care, and follow up tracking.” 

 

Timeline

Beginning in late 2009, and over a 12-month period, the Institute will work with five safety net practices in Massachusetts and Florida.  Participating groups include the Lynn Community Health Center (MA), Brookside Community Health Center (MA), Fitchburg Community Health Center (MA), Borinquen Community Health Center (FL) and Community Health of South Florida (FL). 

To learn more, contact Dr. Alex White, Director of Analytics for the DentaQuest Institute.