Archives of Dental Research 2021;11(2):99–102 Content available at: https://www.ipinnovative.com/open-access-journals Archives of Dental Research Journal homepage: https://www.adr.org.in/ Review Article Pit and fissure sealants — A review Pratima Kolekar 1, *, Pankaj Chavhan 1 , Arun kumar Sajjanar 1 , Suryankant kumar 1 , Milind Wasnik 1 , Dishika Bhagwani 1 1 Dept. of Pedodontics, Swargiya Dadasaheb Kalmegh Smruti Dental College, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 18-08-2021 Accepted 29-08-2021 Available online 31-12-2021 Keywords: Pit and fissures Sealants Caries ABSTRACT Caries on the occlusal surface of dentition is a significant dental health problem. Among all of the teeth particularly molars and premolars have greater susceptibility to caries. Their susceptibility to caries is probably related to its occlusal morphology. Use of fissure sealant and fluoride have been shown to play an important role in reducing caries. This can be possible through converting the caries susceptible areas like pits and fissures into glazed surface which prevent bacterial colonization and makes the tooth easy to clean. Pit and fissure areas of enamel do not receive sufficient protection from topical or systemic fluorides, the reason for ineffectiveness of fluorides in the pit and fissure caries may be due to inaccessibility to these areas and due to the differences in enamel thickness. The most efficient way to prevent pit and fissure caries is by effectively sealing the fissures using resins called pit and fissure sealants. This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. For reprints contact: reprint@ipinnovative.com 1. Introduction Tooth decay is one of the most common diseases in human history. It is one of the most chronic illnesses of childhood. In children, caries develops as soon as the teeth erupt and continue to grow at a remarkable rate during the formative years. Food retention occurs mainly in pits and fissures and these areas are difficult to clean with regular brushing. These inaccessible areas provide a favorable environment for oral bacteria to survive and digest carbohydrates into acids, leading to demineralization of the enamel. 1 The most effective way to prevent pit and fissure caries is to effectively seal these areas using pit and fissure sealants. 1.1. History of sealants In the past decades, many attempts were made to prevent development of caries, especially occlusal caries as it was * Corresponding author. E-mail address: Pratimakolekar33@gmail.com (P. Kolekar). initially accepted that pit and fissures get infected with bacteria within 10 years of eruption. Table 1: History of pit and fissure sealants Years Authors Contributions 1895 Wilson Placement of zinc phosphate cement in pits and fissures 1923 Hyatt Prophylactic odontomy 1942 Kline and Knutson Treatment with ammoniacal silver nitrate 1955 Buonocore Sealing of pits and fissure with bonded resin material 1971 Pit and fissure sealant recognized by ADA 1978 Simonson Preventive resin restoration 1986 Garcia-Godoy Preventive glass ionomer restoration ADA: American dental association https://doi.org/10.18231/j.adr.2021.016 2277-3401/© 2021 Innovative Publication, All rights reserved. 99