Conference sounds alarm about Native oral health

South Dakota is 95% fluoridated Conference sounds alarm about Native oral health: The dental decay rate for very young children is particularly alarming: Native American children in South Dakota between the ages of 2 and 5 have, on average, more than four teeth with decay. The rates of teeth decay for Hispanic children is just over two teeth, and the rates for African American and Caucasian children is slightly more than one tooth.

Colton told of a recent day in the operating room where she crowned every primary tooth in the mouth of a young patient under general anesthesia. The child was the sixth and youngest child in the family to have the same procedure.

Inside Maine's mouth - News Features

Maine is 80% fluoridated "Inside Maine's mouth" - News Features: In Maine, dental complaints were the number one reason for EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS among MaineCare patients and uninsured people between the ages of 15 and 44 in 2006, the most recent year for which comprehensive statistics are available.

Regardless of the reason, this is clear indicator that people aren't getting the dental care they need. According to "A Costly Dental Destination," a study released this February by the Pew Center on the States, "hospital treatment for dental problems is nearly 10 times more expensive than preventative care" (all those MaineCare visits cost more than $6.5 million) — not to mention the fact that ER treatment is just a Band-Aid.

"Patients are often treated in emergency rooms with painkillers and antibiotics, but the underlying root of the problem, sometimes serious dental disease, may not be treated," said MaineHealth executive vice president Frank McGinty in a Lewiston Sun Journal opinion column last month.

Dentists Turn Away Poor Children

Do Dentists Turn Away Children? | Video - ABC News

Toddlers with cavities not unusual at Mott Children's Health Cen - ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MI

Toddlers with cavities not unusual at Mott Children's Health Cen [in fluoridated] Flint, MI:  dentists at Mott Children's Health Center in Flint say a three year old with three cavities is sadly not unusual.

"It probably happens daily here," said Dr. Robert Majewski. "Probably 10 to 15 cases a week, where kids have to go under anesthesia to fix their teeth."

Some cases can be extreme, like one where a 3 year old's baby teeth had to be covered with forms after decay was removed.

"By the time that they are 3, coming in if they haven't been coming in regularly, usually about 50 percent of them have cavities," said RDH Cindy Ezell

Preschoolers’ poor oral health leads to severe tooth decay | pennlive.com

Oakland, California, fluoridated since 1976: Preschoolers’ poor oral health leads to severe tooth decay | pennlive.com: Every week, children come into the Asian Health Services dental clinic in Oakland’s Chinatown with severe tooth decay. “It’s not uncommon that these children- especially immigrant children- have anywhere from 6-20 cavities in their mouth,” says Dental Director Huong Le.

Day 1 of RAM Clinic at Bristol Motor Speedway | TriCities.com

Day 1 of RAM Clinic at Bristol Motor Speedway | TriCities.com: Shortage of dentists; Day one of the RAM clinic (Added: April 13, 2012)  Bristol and most of Tennessee is fluoridated:

On day one of the Remote Area Medical Clinic, 500 people were treated. Yet, nearly 500 other people were turned away, due to a shortage of dentists. Volunteers for dentistry are needed. Tickets for to (more)

 The biggest lines formed for dental care and that caused some problems on the first day of the clinic.

 most of the folks at the RAM clinic are working a job, but that most are under-insured.

They are also asking that any dentist that would like to volunteer should just show up either Saturday or Sunday.

Cutting your teeth on Ireland's dental service   Ireland is the only country that mandates fluoridation country-wide. Yet, up to half of children in Ireland have tooth decay by the age of five

“After the advent of fluoride in water and fluoride in toothpaste it seemed we had a good lid on caries [tooth decay or a cavity],” she says. But over the past 10 years that appears to have changed for the worse, which she attributes to the modern diet and a change in child-rearing practices.

HANDS Clinic in St. Lucie Council makes push to distribute toothbrushes to kids � TCPalm.com

In mostly fluoridated St. Lucie County, Florida, HANDS Clinic in St. Lucie Council makes push to distribute toothbrushes to kids � TCPalm.com: She said last year, 7 percent of the children screened needed emergency dental care. "They had teeth rotted off at the gums."

Pantano said 30 percent of the children in last year's five-school HANDS program had tooth decay, 31 percent had poor oral hygiene and only 32 percent overall had good oral hygiene.

"This year in the same schools, 1 percent needed emergency care, we still have 33 percent with decay, but some has been repaired," Pantano said, explaining that some children have multiple problems that will take time to address. "Sometimes they have as many as 14 cavities in 20 teeth."

But only 6 percent of the children this year had poor oral hygiene and 60 percent had good oral hygiene, she said.

The need is constant for toothbrushes and other oral care products to distribute needy children.

In Illinois, where fluoridation is state-mandated, More people turning to ER for dental problems, study says - chicagotribune.com

 Moreover, with fewer dentists willing to treat Medicaid patients, including only 10 percent of dentists in Illinois, people are increasingly turning to hospital emergency rooms for routine dental problems at nearly 10 times the cost, according to a recent report released by the Pew Center on the States.

In Illinois, about 65,500 residents in 2009 went to the ER for dental conditions, of which almost half were deemed preventable, according to the campaign, a division of the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts.

The trend is not just playing out in low-income neighborhoods, but in solidly middle-class suburbs.

Lack of access to dental care endangering health, costing Colorado millions | Health Policy Solutions

Colorado is 74% fluoridated but Lack of access to dental care endangering health, costing Colorado millions: Every Thursday the clinic treats a steady stream of pediatric patients, many with a mouthful of problems. Mondays through Wednesdays the team sees patients at Tri-County Health Department. Another clinic in Colorado Springs, staffed by volunteers, will lose its current home at the end of May. The clinic accepts Medicaid and parents pay 20 percent of usual fees for the procedures.

“Mostly we see kids with generalized gross decay. We do a lot of hygiene, fillings, crowns, run-of-the-mill general dentistry,” said Khatri.