California kids suffer country's second-highest dental decay rate

ASSOCIATED PRESS

8:08 a.m. February 6, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO – Nearly three-quarters of California's third-graders have suffered from tooth decay, giving the state the second-highest rate of cavities behind Arkansas, according to a new study.

The Dental Health Foundation, a nonprofit oral health advocacy group, surveyed more than 21,000 children last year in kindergarten and third grade at 186 California schools for the study released Sunday.

The study also found that more than a quarter of those surveyed have untreated cavities, which means about 750,000 schoolchildren are likely not getting the dental care they need, the study found.

Of those children with untreated cavities, about four percent, or 138,000 children, needed urgent dental care, the study found.

"IIt's startling to see what kinds of suffering kids go through, with or without treatment, when they have rampant tooth decay," said Dr. David Perry, an Alameda pediatric dentist and chair of the Dental Health Foundation.

Tooth decay "is preventable, 100 percent preventable," Perry said.

But dentists are making progress in encouraging treatment

Decayed teeth not only causes painful toothaches but it can also prevent children from sleeping and eating properly, and makes some children more susceptible to health problems including ear and sinus infections, the group said.

The foundation is scheduled to present its findings on Feb. 28 to the state Assembly Standing Committee on Health.