Sealant retention and status. This would allow follow up of loss to be evaluated. The sample of only two hundred patients over period of five years may seem small although it is felt that the data presented is a fair representation of this study.
Weintraub7 evaluated efficacy by the percentage effectiveness (a statistic used in clinical trials to
compare the caries rate of sealed and unsealed teeth), the percentage of completely retained sealants, and the percentage of sealed teeth which became carious and/ or restored, and the reapplication rates. Simonsen15 evaluated efficacy in terms of cost effectiveness and the odds ratio (the odds of an unsealed tooth becoming carious).