A DENTAL crisis involving rotten teeth being surgically removed from children’s mouths when they’re in preschool — and then again as teenagers — has prompted a grim warning from dentists.
One of the state’s leading dentists says she is “frustrated” and “disheartened” with parents continuing to ignore the problem, mistakenly believing dental care is too expensive or decay is unavoidable.
“The message isn’t getting through. People think you inherit bad teeth but you don’t, you inherit bad habits. It’s frustrating,” Dental Association of NSW president Dr Sabrina Manickam said.
“Parents need to be on top of it and be proactive and know dental treatment is expensive but regular check-ups and preventive measures are not and are in their control.”
The message comes as figures reveal the rate of hospitalisation for surgical removal of teeth among children aged from five to 14 years old in NSW has almost doubled since 2001. While the hospitalisation rate for such procedures among older children has skyrocketed, the rate among younger children has actually fallen since 2001.
Dr Manickam welcomed a tooth-brushing education program, similar to those already used in UK schools, being rolled out here.
“We need to get in with education early when mums are pregnant, after mums have the bub and into kindergarten and right through primary and high school even,” she said. “It needs to be a concerted effort by (the) department of health and department of education.”
A NSW Education Standards Authority spokeswoman said dental hygiene was part of the health and physical education syllabus for primary school and optional in years 7 to 10.
Dr Manickam said she often saw the same teenagers requiring surgical removal of their adult teeth years after she removed their baby teeth because of decay.
“Its quite disheartening when you see the child at five years old and again at 10 and again at 20,” she said.
Source: Daily Telegraph
