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Preventive

328 - Thirty-Six-Month Survival of Dental Sealants in Pediatric Patients at a Community Health Center: Influence of Operator Type, Patient Age, Behavior, and DMFT score

Saturday, May 23, 2026
12:45 PM - 1:00 PM PST
Has Audio

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Catherine A. Koubek, DMD

    Pediatric Dental Resident
    NYU Langone Dental Medicine, Brooklyn, NY
    NYU Langone Dental Medicine, Brooklyn, NY
    Brandon, Florida, United States

    • Research Mentor(s)

  • ED

    Eva Dupay, DMD, MSD

    NYU Langone Dental Medicine, Brooklyn, NY
    BRANDON, Florida, United States

    • Program Director(s)

  • DK

    Daniel J. Kane, DMD, MA

    Program Director
    NYU Langone Dental Medicine, Brooklyn, NY
    Brooklyn, New York, United States

Abstract:

Background: The effectiveness of dental sealants is well established but retention and long-term survival may vary in real-world clinical environments, particularly in high-volume community health centers. Evaluating sealant outcomes in these settings will help to better understand performance and to support quality improvement efforts.

Objective: To determine the 36-month failure rate of dental sealants placed in pediatric patients at a community health center and to evaluate sealant outcomes across select patient and provider related factors.

Methods: This retrospective chart review included pediatric patients aged 5-17 years who received dental sealants at Suncoast Community Health Centers, Inc. between 2021 and 2022. Sealant failure was defined by the presence of subsequent repair, restorative, preventive resin restoration, or extraction codes associated with previously sealed teeth. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize outcomes. Group comparisons were conducted to evaluate differences in sealant failure by age group, behavior rating, caries risk, DMFT score and operator type.

Results: A total of 403 sealed teeth were evaluated over a 36-month follow-up period. The overall sealant failure rate was 20.6%. Differences in failure rates were observed descriptively across the included patient and provider factors, however no statistically significant differences were identified between groups.

Conclusion: In Suncoast Community Health Centers pediatric dental population, approximately one-fifth of dental sealants failed within 36 months, with no statistically significant differences detected across evaluated patient or provider factors. Future studies may benefit from larger sample sizes, longer follow-up periods, and prospective designs to better identify factors associated with sealant survival in underserved populations.

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