I had no idea there’s BPA in dental sealants!

That’s what a WBUR program reporting on a proposed ban of BPA in Massachusetts says (see “State Wants BPA Ban in Some Children’s Products,” May 12, 2010). Today, while sorting files, I found a brochure about dental sealants I was given when my son’s dentist recommended dental sealants — Seal Out Tooth Decay: A Booklet for Parents.

The first sentence reads “Sealants are thin, plastic coatings painted on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth.” So yes, dental sealants are plastic and apparently the kind of plastic that has BPA in it. But the brochure, of course, does not mention BPA.

www.bisphenol-a.org, a web site “sponsored by the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group, which is organized regionally at the American Chemistry Council, PlasticsEurope, and the Japan Chemical Industry Association,” claims on a page “Resin Dental Sealants and Bisphenol A Oral Exposure” that “human exposure to BPA from dental resins is minimal and poses no known health risk.” But then the same web site also assures that “consumer products made with BPA are safe for their intended uses and pose no known risks to human health.”

Apparently, some sealants may be BPA free (according to www.non-toxickids.net post “BPA in Dental Sealants? Ask Your Dentist,” from January 1, 2009). But my son already has dental sealants on his teeth. Now I wonder whether it makes any sense (because, frankly, it is too late to do anything) to check whether his sealants have BPA in them.