Originally published February 26 2006
Study of California third graders uncovers rampant tooth decay
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In California, the oral health assessment by the Dental Health Foundation has found that 71 percent of the state's third graders have suffered tooth decay.
Children's dental problems have reached epidemic proportions in California, eclipsing other health crises including asthma and obesity, according to a study released Sunday.
Nearly 71 percent of the state's third-graders have suffered from tooth decay, and nearly 29 percent of kindergartners and third-graders surveyed across California had untreated cavities, said the oral health assessment by the Dental Health Foundation.
The foundation is starting an education campaign for pediatricians and other heath care professionals to better prevent, detect and treat dental disease in young children.
"Tooth decay is a silent epidemic for children ages 0 to 5," said Kris Perry, executive director of First 5 California, which funds school readiness programs with Proposition 10 tobacco tax money.
"This is really a call to action," Perry, who is no relation to David Perry, said of the study.
Dentists say the implications of such widespread tooth decay go beyond painful toothaches, which themselves can keep children from sleeping, attending school, paying attention and even eating properly.
Decayed teeth, which hold bacteria that can spread throughout the body, also can make a child more susceptible to other problems, such as ear and sinus infections.
That means as many as 750,000 California schoolchildren may need dental care they are not getting, 138,000 of them urgently.
Perry said as soon as the dental profession is successful in getting out a prevention message, such as not allowing babies to sleep with bottles of juice, the problem is replaced by a new one, from toddlers toting juice-filled sippy cups all day to older kids chugging cavity-inducing sports drinks.
Twenty-three percent of the children surveyed had no dental insurance, 42 percent had government insurance through Medi-Cal and Healthy Families and 35 percent had private insurance.
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