Question:
Access to Dental Care ?
Answer:
Thanks to fluoridated drinking water and better dental care, most Americans
middle-age or younger can expect to keep their teeth for life. Yet dental
diseases still threaten the health of low-income people, who are more likely to
lose their teeth, said David Satcher, the nation's top doctor.
``Those who suffer the worst oral health are found among the poor of all ages,
with poor children and poor older Americans particularly vulnerable,'' Satcher
said in a report. ``Members of racial and ethnic minority groups also
experience a disproportionate level of oral health problems.''
The government's first-ever comprehensive look at oral health in America showed
that a combination of social and economic factors - lack of dental insurance,
poor diets, tobacco use, a dearth of minority dentists and lack of awareness of
the importance of healthy teeth - contribute to poor oral health.
Nearly half of all poor blacks and Hispanics have untreated tooth decay,
compared with 27 percent of poor whites, the study showed.
Oral problems begin early - more than a third of low-income children have at
least one untreated decayed tooth by the time they are 9 years old, compared
with 17 percent of kids living above the poverty line.
The disparity gets even greater the older kids get. Over 43 percent of poor
kids have tooth decay by age 17 compared to 23 percent of kids who are better
off, according to government studies cited in the report.
Meanwhile, tooth problems often go unchecked because children lack insurance
coverage. Uninsured kids are two-and-a-half times less likely to get dental
checkups compared to kids with insurance. Experts estimate that as many as 26
million American children have no insurance coverage for dental care.
Here here! in Maryland where I practice, which is one of the wealthiest
states in the nation ...Medicaid is abysmal..and reforms have done little to
improve it. In addition there is NO coverage for adults whatsoever...not
even the treatment of potentially life threatening oral infections....go
figure.
My 2 year old daughter has dark stain on her teeth.
The stain is not very hard and can be scratched away
(though not completely) with my finger nail. She doesn't
receive a proper brushing because she dislikes the
procedure. The teeth surely can be cleaned by a dentist,
and that is what our doctor suggests.
But my question is: what can cause the dark stain to
develop? Can this be a sign of some other disorder?
She is a healthy child and only visits doctors for
vaccinations.
Is she taking iron supplements this can very often cause staining of teeth.
Actually, I asked that question because I myself
have first hand experience with the dark stain.
I had it for several years in my twenties. Five years
ago, when I was 26 I changed my nutrition habits
towards more healthy food and the stain disappeared
together with some other disorders which were my primary
target. But I have only vague knowledge of correspondence
between the particular warning signs like the stain and
the hygienic mistakes that may cause them :-(
