Occlusal sealants: an overview of clinical studies

Sealant application is a technic in which a rapid transfer of technology occurred from the research community, abetted by industry, to individual practitioners and public health personnel. Less than five years after publication of the results of the first clinical trial, sealant systems were commercially available. Since the first published report of the effectiveness of sealants in inhibiting occlusal caries, many other investigators have substantiated the dramatic caries-inhibiting potential and degree of retention that can be obtained with sealants. Despite the high degree of success and the universality of positive reports, there is a significant lag in the utilization of sealants both by dental practitioners and public health programs. One reason appears to be the perception that sealants are not cost-effective. This is a concept that the dental research community may have unwittingly fostered by conducting cost analyses on a technic that was still in its initial stages of development. It behooves the dental profession, both the public and private sectors, to accord sealants recognition for their proven effectiveness and retentive characteristics. At the same time, the dental profession should suspend judgment on their costs until reports of studies conducted specifically for this purpose appear.