Sealants are a Scam
I am J Tim Rainey, DDS. I am a small-town dentist, practicing in a remote rural area of South Texas that has been my lifelong residence. I am also a well-known research scientist in dentistry. These are my opinions based on those fifty years of practice and research dedicated to improving the practice of dentistry for the benefit of the patient.
Sealants were introduced as a cure-all for early decay in the late 1960's. Here we are a half-century later with the American Dental Association endorsing antiquated and disproven methods while continuing to ignore published, scientifically based technology that would end 80% of all future dentistry, considering that 80% of what dentists do on a daily basis depends on the failure of previous dental work!
In 1983, I put the finishing touches on a method that has since been upgraded dozens of times, looking to simplify the procedure that was first introduced in 1985! The original procedure turned out to be so reliable at stopping occlusal decay that we put a limited Professional Lifetime Warranty on those occlusal surfaces that erupted under our care. We still see many of those original "Sealants" on a regular basis, still functioning and untouched more than 35 years later.
Meanwhile, I will give full credit to the ADA and their cohorts in this disgusting ignorance of the science, most dental universities, for doing everything possible to ignore and hide the evidence. A sterling example is the ADA's current "White Paper" on "Sealants", again promoting the fallacies and flaws of the original sealant technique while ignoring the science and a peer-reviewed science-based technology that works.
I have attached a link to the ADA "White Paper on Sealants" here:
Dental sealant benefits outlined in ADA white paper.pdf You can follow the links in this paper to the embarrassing video on sealant technique.
I have written a number of papers over the years criticizing the ADA "Slop 'em on" technique (not technology). I took this as another opportunity to promote the science of dentistry and targeted not only the ADA but also sent an email to the participants of the pathetic video promoting the sealant technique endorsed by the ADA.
2022_03-21 ADA Sealant Email.pdf
I also sent a Retort to the ADA chastising the organization for ignoring the science. The most common excuse I encounter is "It is too hard." In numerous correspondences, including these, I point out the science and the simple steps needed to achieve success. Then I point out that I have pictures of my hygienist and chairside assistant providing this life-saving technology off the back end of a banana plantation loading dock while we were on a mission trip. Why not do it right the first time?
2022_03-21 ADA Sealant Retort (002).pdf
I have many previous communications with the ADA regarding their abandoning of the public in favor of "following the money" and I do give the ADA all credit deserved for ignoring this "Dead Elephant" in their living room. If the ADA had pursued the promotion of properly applied sealants, America would now be approaching a reduction by 80% of dental procedures being done today, a savings of TRILLIONS of dollars! (and how many lives?) I think therein lies the problem. Had the ADA adopted the simple and effective approach to stopping occlusal decay, there would also have been an equilateral reduction in the need for dental universities, dental students, dental materials and supplies, and ADA members, and you now understand the economics. It is not in the best interest of the profession or the ADA to eradicate the disease of dental decay (caries). I do address this travesty further in the previously indexed files.
It will be interesting to see what lame excuses will be offered in defense of ADA sealants, as this defective technique will become known with all the liabilities attached. One of the glaring liabilities facing the ADA will be the rules of ethics endorsed by the ADA and ALL medical/dental regulatory agencies and written in some form into all Codes of Ethics, called "Inform and Consent". Practitioners entrusted with the care of a patient are required legally, ethically, and morally to disclose to patients any alternative reasonable peer-reviewed treatment. For example, I, as a young dentist, made a very reluctant hospital staff include in their protocol the offering of laparoscopic surgery to all eligible gall bladder patients. Their lame excuse was that "Some of the younger surgeons have trained to do laparoscopic surgery. We are the senior surgeons and we get the first pick of incoming patients, but we have not done the training." I gave them four hours to read up on laparoscopic surgery, and twelve hours to call an emergency staff meeting to add laparoscopic surgery to their protocol. They did.
In my opinion, dentistry and the ADA are in the same indefensible position. In my opinion, if you or your children have been assaulted by lack of "Inform and Consent" and are now the victim of a sloppy sealant, in my opinion, you are due recourse. Stopping early decay IS a life-saving procedure. Case in point, the ADA routinely sponsors ads linking good dental health to good health overall. Think how eliminating the 80% of unnecessary future dentistry would do in improving the overall health of the patient population. Do the math. How many lives would that save?
We routinely see patients who have seen area dentists regularly and have now been relieved of most of their molar teeth or with multiple root canals while extractions and root canals due to failed sealants and the corresponding "Molar life cycle" are rare indeed in the practices offering properly done sealants beginning with early eruption.
I do realize these opinion papers will be met with fierce resistance as patients begin to discover this website and start to ask the hard questions of their beloved dentists. Keep in mind that the common characteristic of a con artist is charisma. In my opinion, I think they should be given the same consideration one would as if the dentist had run a stop sign and hit a child on a bike. They made a choice either through ignorance or convenience. Be sure to pass this on.
In the immortal words of Colonel Travis,
My Regards to All Friends, Confusion to All Enemies. May God Bless All.
J Tim Rainey, DDS, MAGD
04/14/2022. These are my opinions. This is a continuation of the Open Records Requests over the years aimed at uncovering the corruption and collaboration of the Dental Universities and their cohort in collusion, the American Dental Association. (See Above) This series of ORR's was promoted by a very poorly presented, completely unscientific "Position White Paper" Published by the American Dental Association on sealant technique. This pathetic example of academic incompetence is endorsed by the University of Texas Dental School at San Antonio, completely ignoring the technology I had left in place while serving as an Adjunct Professor.
2022_03-21 ADA Sealant Email.pdf
2022_02-27 OpenRecordsRequestUTSADonly.pdf
2022_02-27 OpenRecordsRequestUTSAChalla.doc
2022_04_13 OpenRecordsRequest Attorney General.pdf
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