Pit and fissure sealant program San Carlos Service Unit Phoenix Area, Indian Health Service.

The purpose of this program at the San Carlos Service Unit is to reduce the incidence of pit and fissure caries in permanent teeth by 50 percent through the mass application of pit and fissure sealant in an on-going school-based program of disease prevention. Pit and fissure sealants were applied to the permanent teeth of all eligible recipients. The treatment sites included all of the four schools on the reservation, and one off-reservation school attended by some eligible children. Sealants were applied using the four handed technique and in compliance with the protocol established for this specific program. The team charted the existing condition and recorded sealant activity. The data collected was entered into a database for analysis. Six thousand six hundred and twenty sealant procedures were applied during the first three years of the program at San Carlos. The effectiveness of the sealant program for the first year was measured at a rate of 12 percent. By using a 12 percent reduction per year as a theoretical index of program effectiveness, the goal of 50 percent can easily be reached in the ten year span of the program. Additionally, data analysis demonstrated a 96 percent retention rate of the sealant applied in the first year of the program. The sealant program can be utilized throughout the Indian Health Service in the effort to prevent dental disease and to save in treatment costs.