- About the Institute
- Methods + Approach
- Improvement Initiatives
- Technical Assistance
- Results
- Early Childhood Caries Initiative
- Dental Sealant Initiative
- Dental Disease Management Initiative
- Safety Net Solutions: Practice Management Technical Assistance
- Safety Net Solutions: Dental Information Technical Assistance
- Safety Net Solutions: On-line Learning Center
- Safety Net Solutions: School Based Dental Programs
- DentaQuest
Dental Sealant Initiative
The Problem
Dental sealants, thin plastic coatings applied to molars, provide a physical barrier and effectively protect the pits and fissures on the biting surfaces of teeth from dental decay.
Numerous studies confirm that sealants are a cost-effective intervention. As documented by the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center in a fact sheet entitled “Preventing Tooth Decay and Saving Teeth with Dental Sealants”, the 1999 average cost of applying one dental sealant was $27, compared with the average cost of filling that same tooth at $73.77.
In 2008, the ADA noted that sealants "are under-used, particularly among those at high risk of experiencing caries; that population includes children in lower-income and certain racial and ethnic groups (2008)."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy People 2010 framework set a goal of increasing the proportion of children who have received dental sealants on their molar teeth to 50%. As the chart shows, only a handful of states have reached this goal.
What We’re Doing
In 2010, the DentaQuest Institute launched a quality improvement initiative to identify and test a protocol that will increase the proportion of children aged six to eight and adolescents twelve to fourteen in safety net dental practices who have sealants on one or more permanent molars. “This is not simply a matter of applying sealants,” said Brian Souza, Managing Director of DentaQuest Institute. “Our protocol combines outreach, education, application of sealants, analysis of structural issues that advance or impede the delivery of care, and follow up tracking.”
The Institute is working with safety net practices in Massachusetts and Florida. Participating groups include the Lynn Community Health Center (MA), Brookside Community Health Center (MA), Fitchburg Community Health Center (MA), Borinquen Community Health Center (FL) and Community Health of South Florida (FL).
What We’re Finding
The Dental Sealant Initiative is currently being implemented at five community health centers in Massachusetts and Florida through the end of 2010. To learn more, contact Dr. Alex White, Director of Analytics, at alex.white@dentaquestinstitute.org.