By Chrystal Johnson, public health educator II
(Madison County, NY – Feb. 2015) February is National Children’s Dental Health month, which is a good time to celebrate the importance of helping your child fight for their super smile with healthy teeth and gums. Simple preventive measures, such as twice daily thorough brushing with fluoride toothpaste can significantly help decrease the risk of decay.
Children’s teeth are meant to last a lifetime, and a healthy smile is important to a child’s self‐esteem. Starting young with proper care, a balanced diet, and regular dental check-ups, their teeth can remain healthy and strong.
Furthermore, the single most important step municipalities can take to prevent dental disease in children is to protect and expand community water fluoridation. Brushing becomes even more important if your public water supply is not fluoridated. Fluoridation combined with brushing your teeth with fluoridated toothpaste provides the best preventive care you can take for your child’s oral health.
Did you know three things are needed for tooth decay to occur? Those include a tooth, carbohydrates (sweets and starches), and bacteria (germs). Bacteria in the mouth use sweet and starchy foods and drinks to make acid. After repeated acid attacks, the tooth enamel can break down, and a hole or cavity forms in the tooth. Developing good dental health habits at an early age and schedulingregular dental visits helps children get a good start on a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums.
Despite the fact that tooth decay is almost entirely preventable, it is the most common chronic childhood disease, five times more common than asthma. More than 40 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 11 have had a cavity in their baby teeth, and more than two‐thirds of 16 to 19 year-olds have had a cavity in their permanent teeth.
Although overall rates of tooth decay have decreased over the past forty years, decay has actually increased in preschool age children in recent years.Children across the U.S. miss more than 51 million hours of school each year due to dental‐relatedissues; many of which could be easily prevented. Children with dental pain may have trouble paying attention in class or miss school.
Be sure to focus on daily home care of:
- Brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.
- Flossing at least once a day, especially at bedtime.
- After brushing and flossing at night, do not eat or drink anything except water.
For more information on dental health, call the Madison County Health Department at 366-2848 or visit www.healthymadisoncounty.org.