Star-Telegram | 01/28/2007 | Your sweet tooth helps kids' teeth:

Dental care not fluoride reduced tooth decay in fluoridated Arlington, Texas:

"When its SMILES school program began, the volunteer dentists and hygienists found that 61 percent of children examined had active decay, 19 percent with decay severe enough to cause pain or infection.

'Thanks to DHA, 60 percent of those kids now have healthy smiles, and tooth decay has been cut to less than half what it was when the program started,' Hopper said."

Pocono Record - Open wide and say 'AAAHHH':

Pennsylvania:

"Among poorer families, the numbers are worse; more than 70 percent of children from families below the poverty line get no regular dental services at all."

Belleville News-Democrat | 01/24/2007 | Event gives kids free dental care:

2/3 fluoridated U.S.:

"More than half of 6- to 8-year-olds have tooth decay, according to information provided by the American Dental Association."

Standard Journal Online - News:

"nearly half of children ages 2 through 9 suffer from untreated tooth decay.
"

St. Paul Pioneer Press | 01/23/2007 | 2 days of free dental care for needy kids helps, but won't solve the problem:

"Consider this: You are a teenager. You have a toothache but can't afford dental treatment. The toothache is causing such discomfort that you are willing to take four city buses across town to be cared for by a dentist willing to see you for free.

Or consider this: You are an immigrant parent of a first grader. Your child has a hurting mouth but you have no money to pay to see a dentist. You save money for a month to pay for the dental care. And now, your child has such a severe problem that the only solution is to extract the tooth.

These stories seem implausible in this nation with the richest available health care. And yet, these are real-life stories from right here in [98% fluoridated] Minnesota and what we dentists see and hear with increasing frequency."

Salt Lake Tribune - Filling a need:

Midvale, Utah is fluoridated:

"'Five years ago, when we had our first health fair, it became apparent that dental health was the No. 1 issue for our low-income people,' says Midvale Mayor JoAnn Seghini."

Agency helps children have a healthy smile | GoUpstate.com | Spartanburg, S.C.:

Spartanburg, South Carolina is fluoridated

"Tooth pain gnaws at Spartanburg's youths.

One quarter of children in Spartanburg County -- twice as many as the percentage statewide -- need immediate dental care, according to a Statewide Oral Health Needs Assessment done by South Carolina's health department in 2002. Often abscesses -- oral, bacterial infections with pools of pus and swollen gums -- grow from untreated cavities to cause that need."

Saturday Gazette-Mail - Faith & Community:

In 91% fluoridated West Virginia

"what she saw after returning to West Virginia to practice in 2003 was startling: young children with rampant decay, poor oral hygiene and mouths full of rotted teeth that couldn’t be saved.

“It was horrific,” Patnoe said. “I had children who I needed to pull out their teeth, and they’re only 4 or 5 years old.”"

Take Precaution - Stop Fluoridation

seMissourian.com: Story: Rural areas short on dentists:

In 81% fluoridated Missouri:

"Lack of dentists and lack of education about dental care regularly lead to prolonged tooth decay, which in turn leads to painful, costly and avoidable procedures.

"It all comes down to the money issue for a lot of people. Money is a big obstacle that prevents people from going to a dentist at a time when they need to"

"'Dentists are the hardest thing to acquire in the rural areas,' ... 'We see a lot of times clinics have a salary for a dentist, and then three months or four months or even six months later they call back and they still haven't filled the position.'

"The local vacancies are part of a larger [nationwide] trend.