USA - A problem with bite: Keeping your teeth healthy

A problem with bite: Keeping your teeth healthy
By HILARY POWELLhilary.powell@shj.com
Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 3:15 a.m. Lauren Sprouse, 8, of Moore frowns during a fluoride treatment at the dentist office of Dr. H.J. Turner III in Spartanburg."How long do I need to leave it in?" she asked.
Later, she said, "The best part about coming is you get your teeth cleaned, but the fluoride is nasty."
The dental treatment might be bitter, but it helps to make sure Sprouse is not part of a biting statistic from the U.S. Surgeon General that ranks tooth caries, or tooth decay, as the most common chronic childhood disease.
In South Carolina, more than half of children younger than 8 years old have experienced tooth decay, and about one third have untreated tooth decay, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
"That's huge. That's a third of our kids sitting in a classroom with a cavity," said Christine Veschusio, director of the department's Division of Oral Health.
It's one reason that Healthy Smiles of Spartanburg Children's Dental Clinic hosts regular clinics at its facilities at Spartanburg Community College for children who qualify through their school nurse.
"There's an atrocity of children in crisis," said Cindy Roddey, executive director of Healthy Smiles.
The group receives referrals from school nurses in District 7 schools to identity students from families who don't qualify for Medicaid but make too little to afford dental care.
In 2006, Samuel Wilson Sr. was a single parent who couldn't make the payments needed to send his son to see a dentist, he said. A nurse at Landrum High School referred his son, David Wilson Jr., to Healthy Smiles.
"I talk to a school nurse, and that's the only one who ever offered to help us," he said. "They took care of his teeth, and he smiles at everybody now."
At the time, the younger Wilson was 17 and had never seen a dentist.
Turner said free and low-cost dental hygiene programs are part of the solution to help keep children healthy enough to stay in school, he said.
"Studies have identified dental problems as a primary reason children miss school," he said. "If you do enough programs with kids on proper cleaning, it does continue throughout the years and lowers the amount of decay."
Reports also have related poor oral health to decreased school performance and poor social relationships.
Turner said it's never too early to start taking preventive steps to keep tiny teeth healthy. He recommends children start going to a dentist after their first birthday and continue follow-ups every six months, he said.
He also encourages young patients to get sealants placed on their teeth. A sealant is a thin plastic coating painted into the grooves on the biting surfaces of back molar teeth to prevent and stop cavities.
Hygiene inspections shouldn't replace regular dentist office visits, but every bit helps, Turner said.
Tammi Byrd, CEO and clinical director of Health Promotion Specialists, agrees. Her program sends 20 dental hygienists to school districts around the state and has seen improvements in dental health using preventive measures such as sealants, she said.
"You don't have to have a cavity," she said. "You can treat something forever, but if you don't prevent it, you're never going to get on top of it."
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, children who receive dental sealants in school-based programs have 60 percent fewer new decayed surfaces in back teeth for up to two to five years after a single application.
Veschusio said DHEC has a goal to get sealants for half the state's third-graders as part of Healthy People 2010, a nationwide government initiative.
More than an office visit
Before Health Promotion Specialists began working in Union County, less than 10 percent of children eligible for Medicaid had received any dental treatment. Now, 70 percent of Medicaid-eligible children who have been seen by HPS have made it to a dental office to have an exam, Byrd said.
She said parental education makes sure lessons learned at the dentist's office follow children home.
Parents of children who participate with Healthy Smiles, for example, take an informational course about oral health, said Lynn King, community outreach coordinator for Healthy Smiles.
"We teach them about brushing, flossing, the value of nutrition," she said, "so it does not stop with the children. We want to reach out to the whole entire family."
Regular checkups can also help get young patients comfortable with the dentist's office.
Sprouse's mom, Carmon Burgess, said she first started bringing her daughter to the dentist when she was 2 and schedules regular checkups.
"Lauren actually looks forward to getting her teeth cleaned," Burgess said. "I want to make sure her teeth stay good and healthy so she'll have them for a while and so she doesn't have problems as an adult."

South Carolina is 91% fluoridated:NYSCOF