The latest results from the Australian Dental Association’s (ADA) Consumer Survey of 25,000 people reveals a litany of factors contributing to infant and child tooth decay—from excessive sugary drink consumption including fruit juice and soft drinks, to not starting dental visits early enough, not accessing government-funded free dental entitlements and only taking children to the family dentist when there’s a problem.
Data from the ADA’s other data source, the Children and Young People Oral Health Tracker, shows nearly 11 in every 1000 children aged 5-9 are hospitalised for potentially preventable problems due to dental conditions. For Indigenous children this rises to 14.3 per 1000 children. It also found only 56 per cent of children visit the dentist before age five.
“Often it’s a case of people just not being aware of all the facts and that’s why Dental Health Week (5-11 August) is important—so that the key messages about looking after children’s teeth gets out to thousands of families, and kids have the best start in life when it comes to dental health,” ADA oral health promoter Dr Mikaela Chinotti said.
The ADA’s Consumer Survey’s new findings reveal parents don’t know that children are meant to have their first dental visit when their first tooth or teeth emerge, typically before or around age one. Unfortunately, one third of parents reported their child’s first visit was for pain or a problem.
Tooth decay remains an issue for Australian kids with 34 per cent aged 5-6 years having experienced decay in primary or baby teeth and 27 per cent aged 5-10 years having untreated tooth decay in primary teeth.
Sugary drinks undoubtedly contribute to this problem. The Consumer Survey showed that while 85 per cent of parents are aware soft drinks, energy drinks and fruit juice lead to decay, 26 per cent of children nevertheless have fruit juice daily, 37 per cent have 2-5 fruit juices a week, and 37 per cent have 2-5 soft drinks a week.
The ADA survey highlights that while parents understand that fruit juice has sugar, they think juices have health benefits. This is promoted in the advertising and labelling of these products, aimed purposely to mislead parents. The truth is that they offer little nutritional benefit—kids are better off having a piece of fresh fruit rather than drinking shop-bought juice.
