The State of Dental Sealants in The United States

The state of dental sealants in the United States. Animated-Teeth.com Dental sealants are thin plastic coatings bonded in the grooves of back teeth to prevent tooth decay. The US Centers for 70% Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that "sealants can reduce decay in school children by more than 70 percent". (1) But utilization rates in the US are low. Percentage of 3rd grade students with Data source: (2) dental sealant on at least one permanent tooth. astdd.org/cdc.gov High Low No current data. This database's newest data is for 2011 but not all states report as they should. Animated-Teeth.com PA and 9 other states. - No report since before 2005. FL and 6 other states. - No reporting. MS is at the low end of states that report with 24%. MN leads the pack of reporting states with 64%. One goal of the USA's Healthy People 2010 Oral Health program was for 50% of 8 year-old children to have But only abo ut 1/4 of states met, or came close to meeting, sealants on their permanent molar teeth. (3) this target. Met this Healthy People 2010 go al. Just shy of meeting goal. Animated-Teeth.com Data source: (2) astdd.org/cdc.gov In 2009, 38 states did report having some type of dental sealant program. (4) These are often community or school-based programs geared at providing sealants for children unlikely to receive them otherwise. But even this number is low. 20% 40% That helps utilization rates because only 20% of children from low-income families have sealants as compared to 40% of those from more affluent ones. (5) These programs often target sealing perm anent 1st molars in the second grade and 2nd molars in the sixth grade because they are the teeth at highest risk for tooth decay. (6) But these programs have a cost Studies have estimated around $50 per child. (7) But that's still only about 1/3 the cost of paying for a dental filling. (8) Animated-Teeth.com Creative Commons - BY ND Data sources: (All resources accessed January 2014.) (1) CDC.gov. (2) & (4) ASTDD.org data on CDC.gov. (6) ASTDD.org. (3) Healthy People 2010 Oral Health Toolkit NIH.gov. (5) Gooch (2009) Preventing dental caries through school-based sealant .. (7) Truman (2002) Reviews of evidence on interventions to prevent dental ... (8) Brunson (2005) Costs and savings associated with community water ... For direct links to all source materials visit: http://www.animated-teeth.com/infographics/dental-sealants-usa.htm