Treatment selections for fissured grooves of permanent molar teeth

Twenty dentists from selected dental school departments were asked to examine thirteen areas of fissured grooves or pits in extracted molars, and select a treatment from a list of options for each designated groove area, as if each was on a separate tooth. There was a wide variation in initial treatment selections with (29 percent) amalgam and (25 percent) resin sealants being the most common. Pediatric dentists were significantly more conservative in both their original and later diagnoses than were the other dentists in this study.