Children deal with dental problems

Jarred Self, who is 3 years old, has all 12 of his baby teeth capped because they have holes from decay.

His "bottle mouth syndrome," was caused by having fruit juice in his bottle during the day and sometimes at night. And his family's water supply in southwest Oklahoma lacked fluoride to protect his teeth.

Jarred's mother, Jodi Self of Blair, said she's embarrassed about her son's pain and didn't know three years ago about risks to infants and their baby teeth. Now she knows to use water in baby bottles, and that water should have fluoride in it if tap water doesn't have fluoride.

"Jarred was my first child, and I had to learn a lot about being a new mother, too. I've certainly learned about dental care and to not have juice in a baby's bottle all day," Self said.

A year ago, Tavaris Heap-of-Birds, 6, of Sayre had a hole "like a crater" in a permanent molar that required surgery, said his mother, Renalta Lettkeman.

She blamed herself for the dental pain her son suffered. She let Tavaris brush and floss his own teeth and didn't monitor sugary drinks and food. "I tried to do the right thing, but I couldn't keep track of everything," Lettkeman said.

Now, though, Lettkeman does all the brushing and flossing. Dentists recommend that parents do those chores until a child is 8 years old.

"You've also got to ask your dentist more questions about why and how dental problems happen," Lettkeman said.

All soft drinks and snacks in her household are sugar free.

Lettkeman said, "You need to talk to your children about their teeth and what happens if you drink pop all the time."

"A silent epidemic of oral diseases is affecting some of our most vulnerable citizens: our children. Tooth decay is the single most common chronic childhood disease -- five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever," said Dr. Kevin Avery, a retired faculty member at the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry in Oklahoma City.

"With dental disease comes pain and infection, which leads to an inability to eat a proper diet, missed school days, sleepless nights, visits to the hospital emergency rooms, and treatment with antibiotics and narcotic pain medication," said Brian Molloy, an Oklahoma City pediatric dentist.

"No adult would be expected to live like this. However, there are literally thousands of children here in Oklahoma who suffer from untreated dental disease every year," Molloy said.

Costs of dental decay

Many Oklahoma children have tooth decay and dental diseases that cause daily pain, sleepless nights and facial swelling. Because of those problems, they also have trouble learning, according to an ongoing study by the state Health Department and University of Oklahoma.

About 500 third-grade students were involved in the study's first phase.

Initial findings showed that, on average, every third-grade child in Oklahoma has 2.8 teeth that are decayed or have been decayed. Nearly 70 percent of third-graders have had some dental problem -- at least one permanent or primary tooth decayed, missing or filled.

Slightly more than 40 percent had untreated tooth decay. Oklahoma's rate for dental decay was higher than the eight other states that conducted oral health assessments of third-graders: Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire and Oregon.

The percentage of Oklahoma third-graders with tooth decay was 69.4 percent higher than any of the other states, according to the study.

The problems, Avery said, appear to be greater in lower socioeconomic households.

The study noted that access to dental care needs to dramatically improve.

Dr. Wavel Wells, a Lawton pediatric dentist who said he treats some of the worst dental diseases, said the state Medicaid program overseen by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority is part of the problem.

Often, Wells said, children with serious dental problems must be treated in a hospital setting by pediatricians and pediatric dentists because of a need for anesthesia.