USA - Llincoln, Nebraska is fluoridated:NYSCOF
Published Monday | October 1, 2007
Rising decay in preschoolers gives dentists, parents shivers
BY JULIE ANDERSON
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The Halloween season can be scary enough for the adults who oversee the care — and, if necessary, repair — of children's teeth. As the snacks of trick-or-treat season loom, Dr. Jane Bennett, of Papillion Pediatric Dentistry, dramatizes the potentially frightening damage.A report earlier this year gave parents and dentists one more reason to be spooked.
It said researchers had found tooth decay on the rise for the 2-to-5-year-old set. Not only did the increase take place as tooth decay was declining among all other age groups, it marked the first increase in cavities among preschoolers in at least 20 years.
Several local pediatric dentists say the mouths of their youngest patients bear out the statistics. "It seems like we've been doing a lot of cases on 2-year-olds," said Dr. Scott Hamilton, director of pediatric dentistry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry, based in Lincoln.
Recently he repaired 11 of the teeth in a 3-year-old patient — children typically have 20 at that age — including the placement of multiple crowns and performing two pulpectomies, a procedure equivalent to a root canal in an adult.
Prevent decay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Begin brushing infants' teeth with water as soon as the first tooth appears. Use a soft-bristle, child-sized brush.
Limit toothpaste to a pea-sized amount for older children and encourage them to spit it out, not swallow it. If using a fluoride toothpaste before age 2, check with a dentist or doctor.
Don't let children go to sleep with a bottle. If they must, it should contain only water.
Fill sippy cups with water only, except at mealtime. Don't let children sip juice or milk throughout the day.
Take children to the dentist within six months of the first tooth — or no later than their first birthday — for a get-acquainted visit, urge the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry."We did what we could to keep them in, but they were pretty infected," he said.
Omahan Sheree King "was very surprised" when a dentist found cavities in the teeth of her younger daughter, at age 3. The girl drank juice but didn't eat a lot of candy, King said. Her 7-year-old has had no cavities. Both brush.
Recently the younger daughter, now 5, had two teeth pulled at the Nebraska Medical Center.
The recent tooth-decay report, issued by the National Center for Health Statistics, indicated that nearly 28 percent of children ages 2 to 5 had at least one cavity in their primary, or baby, teeth. The data was compiled from 1999 to 2004, and the figure represented a 24 percent increase over 1988-94 data.
The increase surprised many, given that tooth decay in baby teeth declined from the 1960s through the 1970s and stayed flat in the 1980s, said Dr. Bruce Dye, an author of the report and a dental epidemiol-
ogy officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rise might not seem large, but it is significant. It "represents tens of thousands of 2-to-5-year-olds in the United States," Dye said.
On the positive side, more than 70 percent of preschoolers didn't have cavities. The report also noted improvements in other areas of dental health: Decay in the permanent teeth of 6-to-11-year-olds decreased, from about 25 percent to 21 percent. In 12-to-19-year-olds, it dropped from 68 percent to 59 percent.
Eat healthy snacks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Science hasn't determined for sure which foods are best at reducing risk of tooth decay. In fact, cooked starches, such as breads and pasta, can linger in the mouth longer than sugars, raising decay risk.
Snacks, therefore, should be
served no more than three or four times a day. Some healthy ones: vegetables, yogurt and peanut butter.
Certain cheeses may help disrupt development of cavities when eaten as a snack or at meal's end: aged cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella and Monterey Jack.
Sources: American Dental Association; American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry; International Bottled Water Association; Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services; Iowa Department of Public Health.What's going on with the younger crowd?
Dentists don't know for sure, but the report's authors suspect changes in diet, Dye said.
At the top of the list is sugar — not just in candy and soda but also in seemingly healthier fruit juice and fruit snacks.
"Parents think they're good for kids because they're fruit, but they're high in sugar content and they stick to teeth," said Dr. Jane Bennett of Papillion Pediatric Dentistry in Papillion.
Then throw in busy lifestyles, with kids grazing on those snacks and drinks throughout the day, she said.
Added Hamilton: "How much sugar a kid gets is less important than how often they're getting it, at least as far as teeth are concerned."
Some juices — apple and orange — pose more potential for tooth decay because of their higher acid content, said Dr. Gary Westerman, chairman of preventive and community dentistry at Creighton University School of Dentistry. Dark grape juice appears to pose less of a concern.
For some kids, however, juice is replacing milk, which contains the calcium and vitamin D needed to help build strong bones and teeth, Westerman said.
And children are drinking less tap water and more bottled water, he said, meaning they may be missing some of the decay-preventing fluoride that's added to many public water systems.
Time spent brushing teeth also may be suffering, thanks again to those busy lives.
Most parents are conscientious about getting kids to brush and brush properly, Hamilton said.
"But there are still too many that are letting it go, or letting kids do it themselves," he said. "They have good intentions, but they're not really doing a good job."
Why worry about baby teeth, which eventually fall out?
Because even cavities in baby teeth can cause pain. That can cause kids to lose sleep, miss school and have trouble eating, Hamilton said.
And if a baby tooth becomes infected, so does the area around the tooth. That can disrupt the formation of the permanent teeth, resulting in discolored or misshapen teeth.
Baby teeth also hold a place for the permanent versions to come, said Bennett, so dentists don't like to pull them. If they do, they typically insert a spacer to hold the position. For children who need a lot of work, that can mean a trip to the hospital — and treatment under anesthesia.
Doctors and dentists also increasingly recognize a connection between teeth and the rest of the body.
"The mouth is the mirror of one's overall health," Westerman said. "The medical world is becoming more and more tuned into this issue."
Rising decay in preschoolers gives dentists, parents shivers
BY JULIE ANDERSON
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The Halloween season can be scary enough for the adults who oversee the care — and, if necessary, repair — of children's teeth. As the snacks of trick-or-treat season loom, Dr. Jane Bennett, of Papillion Pediatric Dentistry, dramatizes the potentially frightening damage.A report earlier this year gave parents and dentists one more reason to be spooked.
It said researchers had found tooth decay on the rise for the 2-to-5-year-old set. Not only did the increase take place as tooth decay was declining among all other age groups, it marked the first increase in cavities among preschoolers in at least 20 years.
Several local pediatric dentists say the mouths of their youngest patients bear out the statistics. "It seems like we've been doing a lot of cases on 2-year-olds," said Dr. Scott Hamilton, director of pediatric dentistry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry, based in Lincoln.
Recently he repaired 11 of the teeth in a 3-year-old patient — children typically have 20 at that age — including the placement of multiple crowns and performing two pulpectomies, a procedure equivalent to a root canal in an adult.
Prevent decay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Begin brushing infants' teeth with water as soon as the first tooth appears. Use a soft-bristle, child-sized brush.
Limit toothpaste to a pea-sized amount for older children and encourage them to spit it out, not swallow it. If using a fluoride toothpaste before age 2, check with a dentist or doctor.
Don't let children go to sleep with a bottle. If they must, it should contain only water.
Fill sippy cups with water only, except at mealtime. Don't let children sip juice or milk throughout the day.
Take children to the dentist within six months of the first tooth — or no later than their first birthday — for a get-acquainted visit, urge the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry."We did what we could to keep them in, but they were pretty infected," he said.
Omahan Sheree King "was very surprised" when a dentist found cavities in the teeth of her younger daughter, at age 3. The girl drank juice but didn't eat a lot of candy, King said. Her 7-year-old has had no cavities. Both brush.
Recently the younger daughter, now 5, had two teeth pulled at the Nebraska Medical Center.
The recent tooth-decay report, issued by the National Center for Health Statistics, indicated that nearly 28 percent of children ages 2 to 5 had at least one cavity in their primary, or baby, teeth. The data was compiled from 1999 to 2004, and the figure represented a 24 percent increase over 1988-94 data.
The increase surprised many, given that tooth decay in baby teeth declined from the 1960s through the 1970s and stayed flat in the 1980s, said Dr. Bruce Dye, an author of the report and a dental epidemiol-
ogy officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rise might not seem large, but it is significant. It "represents tens of thousands of 2-to-5-year-olds in the United States," Dye said.
On the positive side, more than 70 percent of preschoolers didn't have cavities. The report also noted improvements in other areas of dental health: Decay in the permanent teeth of 6-to-11-year-olds decreased, from about 25 percent to 21 percent. In 12-to-19-year-olds, it dropped from 68 percent to 59 percent.
Eat healthy snacks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Science hasn't determined for sure which foods are best at reducing risk of tooth decay. In fact, cooked starches, such as breads and pasta, can linger in the mouth longer than sugars, raising decay risk.
Snacks, therefore, should be
served no more than three or four times a day. Some healthy ones: vegetables, yogurt and peanut butter.
Certain cheeses may help disrupt development of cavities when eaten as a snack or at meal's end: aged cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella and Monterey Jack.
Sources: American Dental Association; American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry; International Bottled Water Association; Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services; Iowa Department of Public Health.What's going on with the younger crowd?
Dentists don't know for sure, but the report's authors suspect changes in diet, Dye said.
At the top of the list is sugar — not just in candy and soda but also in seemingly healthier fruit juice and fruit snacks.
"Parents think they're good for kids because they're fruit, but they're high in sugar content and they stick to teeth," said Dr. Jane Bennett of Papillion Pediatric Dentistry in Papillion.
Then throw in busy lifestyles, with kids grazing on those snacks and drinks throughout the day, she said.
Added Hamilton: "How much sugar a kid gets is less important than how often they're getting it, at least as far as teeth are concerned."
Some juices — apple and orange — pose more potential for tooth decay because of their higher acid content, said Dr. Gary Westerman, chairman of preventive and community dentistry at Creighton University School of Dentistry. Dark grape juice appears to pose less of a concern.
For some kids, however, juice is replacing milk, which contains the calcium and vitamin D needed to help build strong bones and teeth, Westerman said.
And children are drinking less tap water and more bottled water, he said, meaning they may be missing some of the decay-preventing fluoride that's added to many public water systems.
Time spent brushing teeth also may be suffering, thanks again to those busy lives.
Most parents are conscientious about getting kids to brush and brush properly, Hamilton said.
"But there are still too many that are letting it go, or letting kids do it themselves," he said. "They have good intentions, but they're not really doing a good job."
Why worry about baby teeth, which eventually fall out?
Because even cavities in baby teeth can cause pain. That can cause kids to lose sleep, miss school and have trouble eating, Hamilton said.
And if a baby tooth becomes infected, so does the area around the tooth. That can disrupt the formation of the permanent teeth, resulting in discolored or misshapen teeth.
Baby teeth also hold a place for the permanent versions to come, said Bennett, so dentists don't like to pull them. If they do, they typically insert a spacer to hold the position. For children who need a lot of work, that can mean a trip to the hospital — and treatment under anesthesia.
Doctors and dentists also increasingly recognize a connection between teeth and the rest of the body.
"The mouth is the mirror of one's overall health," Westerman said. "The medical world is becoming more and more tuned into this issue."
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