Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Crosscut.com: Dental care for the poor will require shaking up the system

"Dental care for the poor will require shaking up the system

Indian County and health-care reform: Millions of Americans, including children, live with dental pain, miss school or work as a result, and occasionally face life-threatening infections. Changing this for the poor, especially in rural areas, will require new ways of training practitioners and delivering services."

"The American Indian/Alaska Native population 'has the highest tooth decay rate of any population cohort in the United States: 5 times the US average for children 2–4 years of age. Seventy-nine percent of AIAN children, aged 2–5 years, have tooth decay, with 60 percent of these children having severe early childhood caries (baby bottle tooth decay). Eighty-seven percent of these children, aged 6–14 years, have a history of decay — twice the rate of dental caries experienced by the general population.'"

The United States has been fluoridating for 65 years.