Executive Decision on Dental Sealants

I had to make an executive decision about our daughter's teeth, and I still haven't had to deal with the consequences of it. Mind you, there might be none, but in the past I've felt a little bullied to comply.

It involves our daughter's teeth and the decision of whether or not to have them sealed. Personally, I'm against it, because who needs more plastics in their bodies. Plus, they are made with BPA. Now the information out there is all over the map, and depending on who you ask, you'll get either a pro or a con perspective. The sealants are purely preventative, and it makes perfect sense that they would protect teeth from decay, but so does brushing and proper cleaning.

Plus, having worked with doctors and scientists, and to a lesser degree dentists, I've learned one thing. Medical professionals are way too focused on their specialties to really have a healthy perspective on the big picture. In other words, they may prescribe a drug or treatment to cure a problem without adequately factoring in what it will do to the entire body. Secondly, I think medicine has way too much faith in technology. They think it's okay to let your health fall apart because they will devise some drug or therapy that will cure it.

This is usually not the case, and the side effects of many of these things can be in some cases be worse.

With the sealants, I think dentists are absolutely correct in saying that they will prevent cavities, of this I have no doubt. But by focusing on the teeth, maybe they are giving due attention to what those synthetic polymers may do to a person's health. They are, after all, dentists, and not doctors.

You see it all the time with medications, and is a reason why they are constantly being recalled. They address one specific problem while opening up a bunch of others. There is to date no concrete evidence that sealants cause problems, but I just don't want to put them in her teeth.

The dentist is going to slap me around, no doubt. I like him a lot, but don't appreciate being bullied into something I have reservations about. I don't do well in those situations, and if it were me, I'd probably just shrug my shoulders and deal with it. Of course I'd resent the heck out of having done it, but I tend not to speak up.

When it involves our kids, however, I feel like I have to be a pain the "arse." I think people should respect a parent's concerns, even if they don't agree, but that never happens.

Oh well, it should be interesting. I'm thinking they're going to give me the hard sell, but I have to be strong for my family.

Just a quick side note, my teeth have been killing me, and I called my dentist about the pain and he gave me some advice. Of course I had to ask him about sealants, and (of course) he was absolutely in favor of them. Funny how that works.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Julia Freeman-Woolpert for the pic.