A recent CDC release indicates that cavities in kids, teens, and adults is on the decline. In fact, tooth loss and gum disease have also slowed down. Tooth decay in young children, though, has reached levels not seen since the 1960s. The fact is, minority children in some ethnic groups and children whose families live below the poverty line do not have neither the oral healthcare training nor the money for care to keep their teeth in good health. The CDC article quotes Dr. William R. Maas, dentist and director of Center for Disease Control’s Oral Health as stating, "Although preventive measures, such as dental sealants, have been widely available for years, we need to focus our efforts on reaching children living in poverty who stand to benefit the most from them.”
One out of four children has a cavity in a baby tooth. And before they enter school, four out of ten kids have tooth decay. Immigrants in Southern California are hit hard. In fact, fluoride has only recently been added to the water in this region. Fulloseous Flap’s blog features a video about the tooth decay problem. In it, Dr. Paul Casamassimo, Chief of Dentistry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, says that sugar intake and bottled water, which does not contain fluoride, are problems in children’s diet. While dental sealant usage is up, availability of sealants to the hardest hit communities is lacking.
Medical News Today tells us that children should see the dentist as soon as their first teeth erupt, which is normally before 12 months of age. This online source also related that tooth decay is "five times more prevalent than asthma and seven times more common than environmental allergies."
Research Grant for Genetic – Tooth Decay Studies
Mary L. Marazita, Ph.D., director of the Center for Craniofacial and Dental Research and associate dean for research and professor and chair of oral biology at University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine was recently granted $1 million and about $2.5 million in genetic services by the National Institutes of Health. She will conduct research to determine how genes affect tooth decay. Medical News Today quoted Dr. Marazita as saying, "It is striking that some people will have many teeth affected with decay while other people in the same environment will not. Our study is the first to apply a comprehensive approach that will allow us to tease out what’s in our genes and what’s in our environment that is causing tooth decay."
Sources: http://www.mwdh2o.com/fluoridation/index.html, http://flapsblog.com/?p=5995, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/91397.php, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/91274.php