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The seven tenets to teen oral health
... Over the past decade, lifestyles have rapidly changed with many health behaviors, including oral disease, now being linked to chronic illnesses (Petersen, 2009). A number of factors affect pediatric oral health, including socioeconomic status, oral hygiene, healthy eating, and diabetes, as well as adolescent risk behaviors, such as smoking, using smokeless tobacco, oral piercings, drug and alcohol usage, and unsafe oral sex practice (Federal Provincial and Territorial Dental Working Group, 2012;Petersen, 2009;Silk & Romano-Clarke, 2009). ...
... Oral hygiene practice should include daily flossing and brushing with fluoridated tooth paste, establishing a dental home, and regular visits to the dentist (Silk & Romano-Clarke, 2009). However, many children and adolescents lack access to a dentist and essential oral hygiene products (Federal Provincial and Territorial Dental Working Group, 2012). ...
... The Canadian Dental Association (2012b) reported that the consumption of food frequently, over time, and that are low in nutritional value and high in carbohydrates, as well as sugary drinks such as fruit juices, energy drinks, and carbonated beverages, can cause significant caries and erosion to tooth enamel. Other researchers found that frequent consumption of surgery drinks (carbonated, sport, and energy drinks) and snacks led to sustained acid production, increased breakdown of tooth layers, dental caries, and significant long-term enamel dissolution (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2011;Silk & Romano-Clarke, 2009). These findings support the relationship between nutritional intake and oral health and provide direction regarding the need for a careful nutritional history and provision of adequate health education about nutrition. ...
PurposeThe purpose was to identify the factors influencing pediatric oral health and describe the Caring for Kids Where They Live program.Conclusions
In North America, the burden of pediatric oral disease is significant. Despite evidence to this effect, oral health is an often-neglected aspect of pediatric nursing care. The Caring for Kids Where They Live program has successfully integrated oral health into pediatric nursing care as evidenced by increased accessibility of health care, pathways for care, and disease prevention.Practice ImplicationsPediatric nurses can address oral health disparities by integrating an oral health assessment tool as well as interprofessional follow-up and referral processes in practice.
Oral health is one of the most unmet health care needs of adolescents. Oral disease can have a profound effect on overall health, including pain, missed school, heart disease, and even death. Adolescents have specific needs pertaining to oral health in addition to the usual lifelong issues of caries management, sports injury prevention, and dental referrals. Teen years are a higher risk time for oral piercings, increased sugar intake, nicotine initiation, and orthodontic considerations. Adolescents need a unique approach to motivate them about their oral health issues. This is particularly important because lifelong health habits are created during these formative years, and prevention opportunities for sealants and varnish are only available at this age.
Sports-related orofacial trauma is a serious problem that can be prevented by wearing protective mouthguards and headgear. While this equipment is available, few studies have been done of wearing practices. This study assesses the wearing practices using data from the Child Health Supplement of the 1991 National Health Interview Survey. Results indicate that football was the only sport in which the majority of children used mouthguards and headgear. While statistically significant differences (p<.05) were found in use of the equipment in all sports by grade level, gender, parent's education, ethnicity, and by region of the the country, these differences were not consistent across sports. Healthy People 2000 calls for extending requirements for use of orofacial protective devices to all organizations sponsoring sports that pose risk to injury. Given the complex nature of the findings, multifaceted initiatives that include the promulgation of rules must be developed and tested to determine what approaches are effective in ensuring consistent use.
The two most common eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, can severely impact oral health. This article will discuss and describe the nature of these disorders and attempt to explain why mostly women suffer from them. In addition, the signs and symptoms of these disorders will be described as they present on medical and oral examination, and recommendations for rehabilitating these patients will be presented.
To estimate the total contribution of water fluoridation to caries reduction by including the benefit from the diffusion of fluoride from fluoridated communities to surrounding nonfluoridated communities via the export of bottled beverages and processed foods.
We analyzed data from the 1986-87 NIDR Children's Survey for 18,507 school children aged 6-17 years who had at least one permanent tooth and for whom a complete fluoride exposure history could be created. To measure water fluoridation exposure, we generated continuous and categorical exposure variables. Years of fluoridation exposure (YFE-continuous) measured the number of years the child lived at residences receiving fluoridated water. Lifetime fluoridation exposure (LFE-categorical) was high if the child lived at residences receiving fluoridated water more than 50% of his life and low, otherwise. We summed the proportion of state population receiving fluoridated water times the number of years the child had lived in each state and then divided this value by the child's age to measure diffusion exposure (DE). We grouped DE into three levels: low (DE<=0.25), medium (0.25<DE<0.55), and high (DE>=0.55). For each level of DE, we compared the age-adjusted mean DMFS for high and low LFE. In addition we used linear regression to measure the association between DMFS and YFE while controlling for DE, age, exposures to other fluoride sources, and sociodemographic variables. Reported results are significant at P<0.05.
Comparison of mean DMFS scores found that the direct benefit of water fluoridation (DMFS(LFE=low) - DMFS(LFE=high)) was 1.44 surfaces among low DE children and 0 among high DE children. The diffused benefit (DMFS(LFE=low, DE=low) - DMFS(LFE=low, DE=high)) was 1.23 surfaces. The regression results were similar and indicated that the direct benefit would be 1.44 fewer DMFS for low DE children and the indirect benefit would be 1.09 fewer DMFS for high DE children.
Failure to account for the diffusion effect may result in an underestimation of the total benefit of water fluoridation, especially in high diffusion exposure regions.
Limited information is available on the effect of income level on whether people visit a dentist for preventive care, whereas more has been written regarding the effect of income on "any" dental visits--which may include emergencies. Also, little is known of the effects of "near-poor" income (101 to 200 percent of the U.S. federal poverty level) on dental visits and preventive dental visits. The authors examined the impact of income at the "poor" and "near-poor" poverty levels on preventive dental visits made by children and adolescents.
The authors used data from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for children and adolescents younger than 19 years of age to estimate the percentage of this group who had had preventive dental visits. They performed a multiple logistic regression analysis to adjust poverty levels by race and ethnicity, age and sex.
The distribution of preventive dental visits for those who were poor was similar to that for those who were near-poor, but the percentage distribution of preventive visits for children and adolescents with higher income was significantly different from that for those in the lower income groups. This was true across all the variables considered.
It is important to evaluate and monitor preventive care utilization trends for U.S. children and adolescents in the poor and near-poor categories separately, particularly in states that do not provide similar levels of access under the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. Enrollment of eligible children in Medicaid and SCHIP via oral health promotion outreach efforts, access to care and utilization of dental primary and secondary care services must be increased.
Individuals undergoing treatment for alcohol use disorders exhibit increased risk for impaired oral health. We conducted a study to assess oral health and demographic characteristics of inpatients under treatment for alcohol use disorders.
Thirty-four inpatients, 24 male and 10 female, with diverse ethnicity, were recruited in a rehabilitation center for alcohol use disorders in Buffalo, NY. Before undergoing oral examination, subjects completed a questionnaire on dental hygiene, associated behaviors, and demographic characteristics. Information regarding patients' oral health was collected using plaque, gingival, and decayed, missing or filled teeth (DMF) indices, and by examining soft tissue and evaluating signs of abrasion, erosion, and attrition. Statistical analysis determined prevalence and descriptive characteristics.
Alcohol intake for the population was, on average, 45.7 drinks/week, and 61.8% had smoked cigarettes within the past month. Patients were missing 15.1% of their teeth. Of teeth examined, 13.5% had dental caries. Prevalence of soft tissue abnormalities was 35.3%, prevalence of tooth erosion was 47.1%, and prevalence of moderate/severe gingival inflammation was 82.3%. Although study participants reported brushing at least once a day, 70.6% of subjects presented with heavy dental plaque accumulation. Most participants (85.3%) described the condition of their mouth and teeth as fair or poor. Finally, we observed a satisfactory participation rate among those who qualified for the study.
Oral examination showed significant levels of dental caries, gingival inflammation, soft tissue abnormalities, and tooth erosion. In addition, this study indicates that patients undergoing treatment for alcohol use disorders evidence poor oral health, and are at heightened risk for the development of periodontal disease.