Preventing Dental Caries: Statewide or Community-Wide Sealant Promotion

Task Force Finding*

Statewide or community-wide sealant promotion programs encourage sealant use among private practitioners and through community-based programs. Program activities include continuing education courses for dental health professionals; educational campaigns for consumers, community leaders, and third-party payers; and efforts to promote school-based or school-linked sealant delivery programs. Statewide or community-wide sealant promotion programs aim to increase public and professional awareness of the health benefits of sealants, encourage third-party reimbursement for sealant application, increase appropriate use of sealants by practitioners, and increase access to sealants for disadvantaged populations who might not get them otherwise (e.g., through school-based programs).

The one available study that evaluated a statewide sealant promotion campaign provided insufficient evidence to assess the program’s effectiveness in changing public or professional behavior or in reducing dental caries statewide. The evidence was insufficient because of limitations in study design and execution, which did not allow valid attribution of reported changes in sealant use to the intervention.

*From the following publication:

Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Recommendations on selected interventions to prevent dental caries, oral and pharyngeal cancers, and sports-related craniofacial injuries. [PDF - 69KB] Am J Prev Med 2002;23(1S):16-20.

Review completed: February 2000