What factors could make an adult a candidate for Sealants?
The best way to determine the need for sealants is to evaluate the person’s risk for pit and fissure decay which continues throughout adulthood. Not only does this vary from person to person, but also varies for the same person over time because changes in personal habits, health status and medication are known to increase the risk of decay. Lack of access to fluorides and fluoridated water, a history of previous decay, and chronic xerostomia (dry mouth) are also factors your dentist will consider when evaluating you for sealants.

Moisture itself, however, often remains; Fiegal demonstrated in his research that the bottom sac within the groove remains filled with plaque and moisture. The average penetration of the sealant is, on average, only 17% of the depth of the groove.To successfully place a hydrophobic sealant, an additional placement step may be necessary, such as the use of a priming and drying agent. Otherwise, hydrophobic sealants do a very nice job of protecting the grooves and pits because they tend to repel any moisture or plaque build-up. Unfortunately, they do not deeply penetrate into the grooves.In addition, high-viscosity sealants may not be able to fully penetrate even the area of the enamel that has been properly acid-etched. Therefore, some highly filled sealants do not sufficiently infiltrate the etched enamel.Because of this limitation, some researchers have recommended using fourth- and fifth-generation dental adhesive products to improve the adhesion and adaptation of sealants to the morphology of molars.

Another issue would be the occasional failure of the marginal integrity of the pit-and-fissure sealant. This would result in demineralization and finally decay under the leaking sealant. Although this has not been a common problem, when the leakage occurs the result can be very damaging to the sealed tooth. When the failed sealant is removed the tooth structure underneath is quite de-calcified with severe surface breakdown. Therefore, it would be very helpful to have the ability to diagnose sealant leakage before extensive demineralization.