What is the black spot in a tooth with sealant?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am asking a question regarding my daughter who is 3 and 1/2. She was seen by her dentist a few months back. They performed a cleaning and also put sealant on her molars, as they have deep grooves. I just recently noticed a few dark spots in her molars, but I am wondering if that is due to the deep grooves. Everything looked good, the dentist said a month ago, so I am quite alarmed if she has a cavity in that short amount of time. May I please provide you with a picture?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Yes, your daughter has deeply grooved teeth (attachment removed to protect patient identity). By book, its treatment is in the following steps. Cleaning that your dentist did perfectly, as there are no residues of plaque or tartar on tooth surfaces. Deep fissure sealants are done to seal any carious activity that could occur in deep grooves. It is also done by your dentist.

After the sealant treatment, if any dark spots or signs of carious activity are seen, it means that through microcracks, bacteria have traveled inside the enamel, causing carious activity to start. Now, this is treated with fillings. It does not happen in a day or two; it takes like six months to cause slight decay in the tooth. In your daughter's case, this activity might have appeared after a few months.

Now your dentist will check if there is a catch in these black spots (carious cavities), then fillings will be done. Sometimes, there is no catch in these black spots, which means carious activity is arrested and not propagating inside the tooth, and they are not harmful to teeth and can be left untreated, or just sealants are done to arrest them. If the black spots are becoming more evident, propagating to inside layers of teeth (harmful), and now some ditch or catch is formed in those grooves, it definitely needs filling.

I hope this helps.