title: The prevalence and effectiveness of fissure sealants in Scottish adolescents.
abstract: The presence of fissure sealants was recorded in 4294 adolescents during a 3-year, double-blind clinical caries trial, conducted in Lanarkshire, Scotland, between 1988 and 1992. Of 68,704 occlusal surfaces examined at baseline, sealants were detected on 7011 (10.2%) surfaces, in 1596 subjects. Of these, 17.4% were judged as incompletely sealed. At the final examination 24.3% of sealants originally recorded as complete were missing, with partial loss observed on a further 18.2% of surfaces. At that time, 21.4% of surfaces 'unsealed but sound' at baseline were recorded as decayed, filled or extracted due to caries, compared with 14.4% of surfaces on which an intact sealant had been recorded (P < 0.001). In contrast, of those surfaces on which the sealant was noted as deficient at the outset, 22.9% were judged to have been affected by caries. This study shows that sealants should be repaired when deficient if they are to be effective.
authors.affiliation: Department of Adult Dental Care, Glasgow Dental Hospital and School, England.
authors.forename: I G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Chestnutt
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schäfer
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Jacobson
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Stephen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015995:Prevalence; D011313:Preventive Dentistry / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants