Babies aid in fight to safeguard kids’ teeth
Principal hands out toothbrushes, toothpaste as school prizes in bid to fight decay, writes Ruby Nyika.
Milk and unflavoured water will be the only drinks on offer as schools try to quell rampant rates of tooth decay in youngsters.
But the ban could be a case of too little, too late, with one primary school principal saying many children are arriving for their first day with rotting teeth.
A solution could be close, however, following a new study that has found saliva samples taken from the mouth of one-yearolds can predict future decay.
The study was led by Kiwi Mark Gussy, an oral health professor at Melbourne’s Latrobe University, who said visiting a dentist by the age of two might be too late.
Gussy said some infants – particularly those from lowerincome families – were predisposed to tooth decay and testing infants’ saliva could prove cheaper than extracting teeth later on.
‘‘We should be talking with families much younger than we already are. We should actually be [spending more] on these kids and less on the kids that we know won’t get decay.’’
Health Ministry figures show tooth decay affects around 40 per cent of five-year-olds in New Zealand.
At Hamilton’s Rhode St School, principal Shane Ngatai is all too familiar with the impact of poor dental hygiene.
His school has banned sugary drinks – including flavoured water – and introduced a healthy eating programme in place of a tuck shop.
Some students came from families unable to afford toothbrushes and toothpaste,so the school started giving these out as prizes.
But too many children’s teeth were already rotting by the age of five, Ngatai said.
‘‘We’ve got to get them before they go to school.’’
There are just three ingredients in the recipe for tooth decay: bad bacteria, sugar and teeth, and the minute a baby gets its first tooth, rot can set in.
The LaTrobe study followed 600 children from birth to age 7.
Fizzy drinks stood out as a dietary risk factor for tooth decay and Gussy was surprised by the number of soft drinks young children were consuming.
‘‘We’re looking at children younger than two consuming soft drinks on a daily basis.’’
A study released last month found sugary drinks sold in New Zealand were worse than comparable drinks in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
They only need to eat a little bit of sugar and the bacteria goes nuts. It can be really damaging.
Juice boxes put into lunch boxes are the perfect fuel for badbacteria riddled mouths, Otago University childrens’ oral health researcher Deanna Beckett said.
Beckett believed it was important to note that bacteria causing rotting teeth can be passed to babies through saliva.
Once the bacteria is in the baby’s mouth, it flourishes with food.
‘‘If you’ve got someone with really high levels of that bacteria in their mouth they can pass it on to a child who is still developing a bacterial flora.
‘‘They only need to eat a little bit of sugar and the bacteria goes nuts. It can be really damaging.
‘‘Another child can have the same amount [of sugar] but because they don’t have the high levels of bacteria in their mouth they get away with it.’’
And it’s easy to pass on.
‘‘Children when they’re getting cuddles might put their fingers into another person’s mouth and then put their fingers into their own mouth.
‘‘It’s a completely natural normal part of life.’’
And baby teeth are temporary measures, so they are quicker to rot.
‘‘Their mouth is actually sterile when they’re born.’’
Babies born into families who can afford to get their teeth checked and eat well usually ended up with a mouthful of good bacteria, Beckett said.
But those unable to afford the luxury of dental care are on the back foot.
‘‘We should really be looking at subsidising care for pregnant mums. The mother’s oral health is a really big indicator of what the child’s oral health is going to be like.’’