USA - Nothing to smile about

This is the third installment in a series of articles focusing on oral health in West Virginia.
HUNTINGTON — The young girl didn’t want to open her mouth.
Her mother pleaded with her. Dr. Dan Brody tried to coax her, but she bit down, jaw locked. She wasn’t opening her mouth for the dentist. Not for anyone. So Brody gently pulled her upper lip back. The girl’s mouth popped opened.
It didn’t take long for Brody to figure out the problem. The girl’s front teeth were rotted. “Baby bottle caries” was the diagnosis. Brody would have to refer her to an oral surgeon. All of her top teeth would have to come out. The mother confided that her daughter carried a “sippy cup” filled with juice all day. At night, the girl fell asleep with a bottle filled with milk. “Unfortunately, dental disease isn’t like pulling a muscle,” said Brody, who estimated the extractions would cost about $5,000. “It just doesn’t get better in a couple of days.”
Brody sees oral disease in children firsthand in Valley Health’s community health centers across Southern West Virginia and here at the organization’s office in Huntington where new and expectant mothers take classes on oral hygiene. The classes are part of the federal Women, Infants and Children supplemental food program.
Dental disease is the single most prevalent chronic childhood disease — five times more common than asthma. It’s almost 100 percent preventable.
Throughout the state, children with untreated cavities, abscessed teeth and gum disease are suffering with pain, missing school, having difficulty concentrating, developing speech impediments, not eating right, not sleeping at night and not feeling good about themselves.
About 65 percent of West Virginia children have cavities by age 8, according to a West Virginia Healthy People study. About one of every three children in the state suffers from untreated decay. Dental disease hits especially hard among poor children. About 80 percent of cavities are in 20 percent of children — mostly low-income kids. Only 36 percent of West Virginia children eligible for Medicaid saw a dentist last year.
Although many West Virginia dentists are willing to see Medicaid children, parents complain few dentists are willing to take new patients. West Virginia has more than 200,000 kids enrolled in Medicaid, a state-administered insurance program for the needy.
“It’s mind-boggling to me that we have children in our community who struggle with that pain in their mouth every day,” said Jennifer Boyd, medical director for the New River Health Association in Fayette County. “It’s unconscionable.”
‘100 percent preventable’...............................

West Virginia is 91.5% fluoridated:NYSCOF