Dental Sealants have been shown to be an effective measure to prevent caries in children and adolescents. The U.S. Navy dental delivery system continues to emphasize preventive procedures by encouraging the placement of dental sealants on the caries-susceptible teeth of military recruits. Objective: To assess the longevity of dental sealants placed in young U.S. Marine Corps recruits. Methods: A sample of 725 dental records from Marines who entered service in 1999 was drawn from five dental treatment facilities. Dental records were digitized and entered into an electronic database. The entries were reviewed to determine the number of sealants provided to personnel, the number of sealants that failed over the observational period, the dates of sealant failure, and the date of the last annual examination. A sealant failure was defined as: (1) loss of all or part of the sealant as indicated by the need for reapplication, or (2) caries progression as indicated by need to restore the occlusal surface. Results: 195 (27%) of the 725 personnel in the sample had sealants placed during recruit training. 688 sealed non-third molar posterior teeth were evaluated in this study. After an average follow-up of 35.2 months, 146 (21%) sealant failures (41 needing sealant reapplication, 63 requiring occlusal restoration with other materials, 42 requiring proximal occlusal restorations with other materials) were noted. Conclusions: A large number of young Marines have caries-susceptible teeth that may benefit from the placement of dental sealants. A large percentage of the sealants in this study were considered to be failures due to newly diagnosed interproximal caries that required restoration of the occlusal surface.

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