Caregivers Vital in Protecting Dental Health of Kids

Children on Medicaid are not getting dental care. The study also discovered that children start going to dentists when they have a dental emergency. Less than half of the group had visited a dentist recently. Caregivers play a big role in maintaining good oral health of the kids. If the caregiver neglects one’s oral health then they also neglect that of the children.

Kimon Divaris, head researcher of the study and from the UNC School of Dentistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry stated that kids should visit a dentist when their first tooth shows. The agency suggests checkups for every six months to avoid cavities and other problems.

Oral health is a vital part of general health. Dental problems in young ones have been connected to other negative effects such as pain, discomfort, decreases one’s quality of life, absences from school, failure to succeed and the financial costs for the family and the health system.

Dentists and doctors have tried to make dental care more accessible for all children and caregivers and parents must play an active role and bring their kids to the dental clinic. The researchers looked at Medicaid data as well as caregiver interviews for a thousand children who have never visited the dentist. They used the records to follow the progress of the kids for two years. The average age when they enter the study were 16 months old.

The study showed 39 percent of children saw a dentist for the first time. One of every seven kids went to the dentist for dental emergency. Kids with problems with their oral health are more likely to go to a dentist and require emergency care during the study.

Photo by David Holmes [Public domain], undefined