Guest Editorial: For children, the gift of a healthy smile | DL-Online | Detroit Lakes, Minnesota

Guest Editorial: For children, the gift of a healthy smile | DL-Online | Detroit Lakes, Minnesota: Nationwide, fewer than half of children enrolled in Medicaid — the health insurance program for the poor — get any dental care at all. And that’s not just the parents’ fault: “Only about 20 percent of the nation’s dentists provide care to people with Medicaid, and, of those who do, only a small percentage devote a substantial part of their practice to serving those who are poor, chronically ill or living in rural communities,” a recent U.S. Senate report declared.

Moreover, even children from more affluent families are turning up with toothaches, face pain and a startling number of cavities. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted an increase, the first in 40 years, in the number of preschoolers with cavities in a study five years ago,” The New York Times reported earlier this week.

“But dentists nationwide say they are seeing more preschoolers at all income levels with 6 to 10 cavities or more. The level of decay, they added, is so severe that they often recommend using general anesthesia because young children are unlikely to sit through such extensive procedures while they are awake.”