Shocking new research shows that by age six half of all children in Australia will have dental decay. The most common reason for hospitalization of preschool aged children in Australia is dental decay. Some very smart people in the 1970’s and 80’s were looking into the rapid progress that dentistry had made. They predicted that Australians would suffer far less dental disease, and have much healthier mouths into the future. They were so sure of this that they decreased the number of dentists they planned to graduate from Australian dental universities.
Well, they were half right. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed that from 1977 to 1995 there was a steady decrease in dental decay in baby teeth. Great news, for late Generation X and early Generation Y. However, the news is worse for generation Z because somewhere in the mid 1990’s the trend reversed. From 1996 to 2014 there has been a steady rise in dental decay in children in Australia. Australia is not alone with many western countries, including the United States of America, following this trend. Dental decay is the number one fastest growing disease in the USA even though we know it is completely preventable.
For teenagers, the number one predictor for dental decay in adult teeth is a history of decay in baby teeth. The Australian Government has recognized this, and has implemented the Child Dental Benefit Schedule to try and encourage families to seek dental care for their young children. The Child Dental Benefits Schedule provides up to $1000 of funding for dental treatment of eligible children over a two-year period. At Avenue Dental Caloundrawe are passionate about helping children have healthier mouths, healthier even than in the golden years of the early nineties! Please speak to us, or your local dentist, about how to prevent dental decay in children, and remember that dental decay is completely preventable. Prevention can only happen if problems are identified early. We would love nothing more than to see generation Z be the best dental generation yet. Leave out Nirvana and Doc Martin Shoes and Paul Keating, lets bring back the best of the nineties!
If you would like more information please call Avenue Dental.