Health Article

Children's Dental Health – Quick Facts

While most American children enjoy excellent oral health, a significant subset remains at risk for dental disease, including those living in poverty, some racial/ethnic minority populations, disabled children, and children with HIV infection.
Tooth decay remains one of the most common diseases of childhood – 5 times as common as asthma and 7 times as common as hay fever.
More than 50% of children aged 5-9 have had at least one cavity or filling; 78% of 17-year-olds have experienced tooth decay.
By age 17, more than 7% of children have lost at least one permanent tooth to decay.
Injuries to children, intentional and non-intentional, often involve trauma to the head, neck, and mouth. The leading causes of oral and head injuries are sports, violence, falls, and motor vehicle crashes.
Tobacco-related oral lesions are common in teenagers who use spit (smokeless) tobacco. The lesions occur in 35% of snuff users and 20% of chewing tobacco users.
One in four American children are born into poverty. Children and adolescents living in poverty suffer twice as much tooth decay as their more affluent peers, and their disease is more likely to go untreated.
Children from families without medical insurance are 2.5 times less likely than insured children to receive dental care. Children from families without dental insurance are 3 times more likely than insured children to have unmet dental needs.
For every child without medical insurance, there are 2.6 who lack dental insurance.
Fewer than one in five Medicaid-covered children had a preventive dental visit during a recent year-long study.
The daily reality for children with untreated oral disease is often persistent pain, inability to eat comfortably or chew well, embarrassment at discolored and damaged teeth, and distraction from play and learning.
More than 51 million school hours are lost each year because of dental-related illness.

Source: Centers for Disease Control, www.cdc.gov

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