Campaign launched
By Trish Moore
against ‘baby bottle
tooth decay’
Star-BulletinLIHUE -- Kauai is at the bottom of the cavity when it comes to tooth decay in children, says Stan Kanna, a fourth-generation Kauai dentist.
According to a 1997 State Planning and Development Agency report, the rate of baby bottle tooth decay is as high as 33 percent on Kauai. In comparison, statewide that figure is 16 percent, and the U.S. national average is 5 percent.
The preventable disease has reached "epidemic proportions" on Kauai, says Art Tani, a community health educator with Wilcox Hospital.
Hoping to change that, community health leaders are making the disease the focus of the Kauai Dental Health Conference today.
The main culprit?
Lack of awareness, say Kanna and other health professionals.
Allowing children to fall asleep with a bottle in their mouth, or while breastfeeding is a main contributor to tooth decay.
Milk or juice pool around the front teeth and contain sugars, which provide food for bacteria. Bacteria feeding off the sugars produce an acid that over time literally melts the teeth away, says Susan Tangan, dental hygiene chief with the state Department of Health.
Not allowing babies to have a bottle for long periods of time, and wiping the inside of the mouth with a clean, damp washcloth helps prevent tooth decay, Tangan says.
Childhood tooth decay is particularly high in native Hawaiian and Filipino populations, and health workers say there are cultural barriers to overcome to educate people about oral hygiene.
"Services may not be cultural in their presentation and many people are not comfortable in standard health care settings," said Dave Peters, executive director of Ho'ola Lahui, a nonprofit organization providing health care to native Hawaiian.
Kanna says bad economic times have meant reductions in preventative dental health programs and services for low-income people.
In his practice he sees 2-year-olds needing stainless steel crowns and root canals for several teeth, a procedure costing upward of $2,000. Sometimes the decay is so severe, children require hospitalization so the repair work can be done under sedation in a hospital.
"For every dollar spent on preventative education, we'd save $4 to $10 on treatment," Kanna said.
More often, however, tooth decay in low-income families goes untreated, he said.
In the short-term that means pain and trouble chewing food, which can lead to malnutrition. In the long-term, speech development is slower, and the child's teeth turn black, causing lower self-esteem, Kanna said.
Also, bacteria in the mouth that goes unchecked can lead to heart and liver problems, he said.
The conference will be held at the Outrigger Kauai Beach Hotel, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
