Lockdown bad news for teeth

Pandemic worsens declining oral health, write Alex Du Bois and Len Crocombe

A HIGH prevalence of tooth decay and gum disease among Tasmanian adults are disturbing new trends.

It’s a trend made worse by the pandemic, with people avoiding the dentist due to fears of proximity to others, job losses resulting in people spending less on their health and people stuck at home tucking into sugary treats.

Figures show Tasmanian adults are keeping their teeth for longer but one in three of us is walking around with untreated tooth decay, while one in four has gum disease, both which lead to tooth loss.

These are some of the alarming statistics from the Adult Oral Health Tracker progress report from the Australian Dental Association.

The tracker, which sets targets for reducing these conditions as well as 12 other risk factors, is produced by the ADA and the Mitchell Institute.

The conditions are largely preventable, yet they’ve increased and we continue to get further from our goal of improving Tasmania’s oral health.

COVID-19 is making this worse. We’re anticipating a spike in tooth decay and other oral health issues to emerge once the pandemic is over.

Tasmanian dental practices are safe places to go to. They have enhanced requirements including hand sanitisers and mouth rinse, and patients are questioned about recent travel movements. And your dentist will be wearing full component protective equipment.

The track showed the number of adults with untreated and potentially painful tooth decay has increased from a quarter of adults to about a third (25.5 per cent to 32.1 per cent).

Adults with periodontal pockets (more than 4mm) that can cause tooth loss, went from 19.8 to 28.8 per cent.

Adults reporting toothache in the past year went from 16.2 to 20.2 per cent.

Just under half (48.8 per cent) of adults surveyed had visited a dentist for a check-up in the last 12 months, a drop of 6.7 per cent since 2018.

Only 53 per cent of us are brushing twice a day.

The tracker also showed adults are keeping their teeth for longer, with the number of adults with fewer than 21 teeth dropping from 15.5 per cent to 10.2 per cent.

And adult oral cancers have remained almost static at 10.3 people per 100,000.

We’ve reached our set target for the number of adults with fewer than 21 teeth. This shows adults are keeping their teeth for longer. But at the same time we’re seeing more disease. For tooth decay and gum disease we need to be targeting the causes — poor oral hygiene and free sugar consumption, which includes added sugars, honey, syrups and fruit juice.

For many people, free sugar consumption is still well above the WHO’s recommended six teaspoon (24 grams) a day limit and this is affecting quality of life through decay.

Not only do individual behaviours need to change, so too do government policies.

The ADA is putting a spotlight on sugar, lobbying the government to create a levy on sugar-sweetened beverages, educating people about the harm sugar does to teeth and helping consumers better interpret food labels and understand where hidden sugars lurk so they become their own sugar detectives.

We’re asking people to make oral health a priority even during the pandemic. This includes visiting the dentist, becoming sugar savvy and making a conscious effort to brush using fluoride toothpaste twice a day.

WE’RE ANTICIPATING A SPIKE IN TOOTH DECAY AND OTHER ORAL HEALTH ISSUES TO EMERGE ONCE THE PANDEMIC IS OVER