Canada - Kids' dental health decaying, dentists say

Kids' dental health decaying, dentists say
ROB O'FLANAGAN
Cases of bad mouths are spreading among children in the region and it's not related to the language they use.
Public health and education officials, along with a Guelph dentist who fixes young people's teeth, are seeing a sharp increase in tooth decay and oral infection.
They say the pain, discomfort and embarrassment associated with rotting teeth is impeding the learning process and impairing the emotional and physical health of hundreds of children.
One theory suggests the trend toward drinking bottled water may be partly responsible for the sharp increase in tooth decay -- tap water contains fluoride, which is added to aid the public's dental health.
"I'm seeing much bigger cavities, much faster, more rampant, and much more severe cases," said Dr. Mohamed Hussein, one of a small number of local dentists who participates in the Children In Need of Treatment (CINOT) program.

Mandated by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, and run by Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, the program provides financial assistance to cover urgent dental care for children of low-income families.

But it is not just children from poor families who have bad teeth.

"I'm seeing kids coming in for their first checkup and having a whole bunch of cavities," Hussein continued. "There are kids who had a good, clean checkup and then a year later, turns out they've got a whole bunch of cavities. A number of dentists are finding this."
Hussein said there are a few theories floating around the dental profession to explain the decline in oral health among kids.
"One that makes sense is that bottled water takes away the fluoride," he said. "Another theory is a lot of people are purifying their water and taking the fluoride out of it that way."
Yet another theory speculates that the bacteria that causes decay are getting more virulent because of the increased use of antibiotics. Blaming diets rich in sugar is not a good enough explanation, Hussein said.
"Sugar never helped, but 10 or 15 years ago kids were kids and they ate just as much sugar as they do now," the dentist said."I haven't seen any study that showed me that kids are eating more sugar today than they did back then. If it is the lack of fluoride in the water and the use of more bottled water, parents will have to be more vigilant about getting their child's teeth cleaned."
Carole Desmeules is director of child and family health for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. Expanded dental-health screening of children from preschool to Grade 8, she said, has revealed a gaping health-care problem. In a number of schools, 16 to 22 per cent of those screened required emergency dental treatment. In one school, 27 per cent of all children checked by a dental assistant required emergency treatment.
"Certainly this year we have seen a huge increase in cases, and way more complex cases and severe cases," she said. "We found that some of the schools that (previously) had been ranked moderate had become high risk. We found that some of the risk factors had increased and we found way more children with problems."

In some schools, a high percentage of children in kindergarten already had signs of major tooth decay.Bob Borden, chair of the Upper Grand District School Board, said certain schools have been identified as "high risk" when it comes to oral health problems. The board cannot afford to spend money on health care, he said, but has allocated more educational resources to those schools. There is a general agreement that poor dental health -- like poor nutrition -- affects a child's ability to learn.
"We definitely have a concern, particularly for those children we would consider at a high risk -- kids from socio-economic situations that don't allow parents to be able to afford good dental care," said Borden, who recalled the era when schools had public health nurses regularly visiting to screen for dental, vision and hearing problems."That has disappeared," Borden said. "I would love to see it come back."
Desmeules and Hussein said a child's overall health and sense of well-being is affected by gum disease, severe cavities and oral infections. Both believe that health-care dollars spent on improving dental health in children would be money well spent.

"There is a huge impact on their overall health," Desmeules said. "We know that if you have a tooth decay, there is a lot of pain, especially if it's got to the point of needing a root canal or the tooth needs to be extracted. The child's ability to concentrate, to be all there, to enjoy themselves, even their sleeping patterns, are impacted." Hussein said bad teeth can affect a child's chewing ability, forcing him or her to swallow food that is not properly chewed and influencing their digestion and overall nutrition.
Furthermore, speech is impaired when teeth are missing or badly decayed, and a child's self-esteem is negatively affected when he or she is missing teeth or has multiple fillings, he added.
"When you look at all the money spent on health care, dental health doesn't get enough attention," Desmeules said. "I don't understand why we treat everything else but the mouth in the publicly funded system -- especially when it comes to children."