How to prevent cavities in kids

 

Despite decades of warnings about dental care, children's tooth decay rates are on the rise.

Did you know?

Don't put your child to bed with a bottle of milk or juice. It will coat their teeth for hours and lead to tooth decay.

The message is simple: if you don't let kids graze constantly on sugary food and make sure they brush their teeth properly every day with fluoride toothpaste, chances are they won't develop tooth decay. So why do almost 50 per cent of kids aged five to six have at least one cavity in a "baby" tooth, while a whopping one in 10 have more than seven cavities?

These statistics, from the most recent Child Dental Health Survey, show the rot has also set in among older kids, with about half of 12-year-olds developing cavities in their permanent teeth.



While the numbers have dropped since the raging cavity epidemics of the pre-1970s, in the past couple of decades the decay rates in kids have started to rise again.

The number of children being admitted to hospital and put under a general anaesthetic to have dental treatment is also on the increase.

According to 2005 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics, more children under 14 years are admitted to hospital for extractions and dental treatment under general anaesthesia than for any other reason.

This has set off several alarm bells for dental academics and researchers, who wonder whether parents and kids don't know how to prevent cavities or if changes to how we eat and live are increasing the chance of tooth decay.

A decay-free future?

To find out why Australia's tiny teeth are in tatters, the National Health and Medical Research Council is funding a major study through the University of Sydney which will investigate the relationship between bottle-feeding, breastfeeding, food and beverage intake, dental health and obesity in young children.

The university's Associate Professor Robin Wendell Evans says dental knowledge and technology is now at a stage that no child should end up with tooth decay.

He has developed the Caries Management System, which in initial trials has shown a major reduction in the need for invasive – and, for kids, scary – drilling and filling.
"We know, for most people, tooth decay progresses slowly. On average, it takes several years for early decay to progress to the point where the tooth surface breaks up to form a cavity," Evans says.

His world-first system isn't rocket science – it involves people brushing their teeth twice daily with adult fluoride toothpaste and visiting the dentist for professional-strength topical fluoride application.
Combine this with making fluoridated tap water the drink of choice and cutting down on sugary snacks between meals and Evans is positive there will be no more cavities.

He says it makes sense to roll this kind of preventive program out to kids to protect and safeguard their oral health.

Simple tooth decay facts

It's not about how much sugar we consume. The problem occurs when we keeping putting sugary substances into our mouths over a long period – that is, when we graze.
The bacteria that cause tooth decay consume sugars and create acids that eat away at the tooth's surface in a process called demineralisation. This process starts within minutes of eating sugary foods and lasts for about 20 minutes.
"With kids tending to graze all day on sugary food, their teeth are constantly under attack," Evans says. "The best piece of advice I can give parents is to stop their children eating and drinking lots of sugary stuff all day and make sure their kids drink fluoridated tap water."

The fuss about fluoride

While some groups and individuals oppose adding fluoride to water, Professor Anthony Blinkhorn, from the Department of Population Oral Health at the University of Sydney, says fluoride is the wonder mineral for preventing tooth decay.

"If we brush with a fluoride toothpaste twice a day and drink tap water which has been fluoridated, the chances of getting a decay become minimal," Blinkhorn says. "Fluoride's ability to prevent decay is amazing."

Fluoride works on oral health in three ways.

•   On unerupted teeth: It is absorbed through the gut and redistributed into the developing tooth structure.

•   On saliva: It is absorbed through the gut and goes into the saliva.

•   On teeth: It provides an instant benefit as it is consumed, helping to remineralise the teeth.

Almost all tap water across Australia has had fluoride added to it.

Say cheese for a healthy smile

Want to protect your kids' pearly whites? Pack a couple of cubes of cheese in their lunch box. US researchers have found that eating cheese after a meal can reduce the damaging effects of acids while also helping restore the enamel that is breaking down.

The Forsyth Institute study found that cheese eaters experienced 71 per cent less damage to their tooth enamel.

Body and Soul