ACCESS to dental care is the most challenging issue for children during the pandemic.
It’s not medical care nor eye care nor mental health counseling, according to one in six caregivers involved in a study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh and published in the Journal of the American Dental Association.
The caregivers say it’s dental care – and the pandemic has deprived many children of oral health care attention they deserve.
The study was based on surveys of caregivers among whom about one in six said dental care had suffered most during the health crisis.
In comparison, only five percent of those surveyed identified medical care as the greatest unmet need, followed by mental health services and vision care, both at three percent.
“Three times as many households reported unmet dental care for a child compared to unmet medical care,” the study observes.
In fact, the study observes, more cavities have been diagnosed during the past year of the pandemic.
“The current pandemic is a call to action to reinvigorate our efforts in primary prevention for oral health, with a particular focus on solutions that promote oral health for all Americans,” the study concludes.
It recommends that more dental care be accessible to children.
Meanwhile, another survey found that one in three parents say COVID-19 has made it hard to get dental care for their children.
According to the survey, more than 20 percent of parents said they experienced a delay in trying to schedule dental care since the pandemic started.
About four in 10 of the parents did not try to get dental care for their child since the pandemic started.
The reasons were varied, ranging from the fear of exposing their children and themselves to COVID-19 infection in dental clinics to the new normal of dentists putting priority on urgent cases.
The survey was conducted by the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan.
Its findings were aired over the American television program, ABC News.
The findings are not good news. The American Association of Pediatric Dentists (AAPD) recommends that, starting when the first tooth comes out, children receive regular teeth cleaning and examination every six months.
Some seven percent of the parents in the survey said they were unable to get an appointment at all.
Neglected pediatric oral health care is one the effects the pandemic has on children’s health, said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, the Chief Medical Correspondent of ABC News.
“It’s important to always think of the indirect consequences of this pandemic and the effect that it has particularly on children,” she said on the Good Morning America program. “We think of dental health as different than physical health, but it’s really not. It’s a critical part.”
Parents need not worry of getting a high risk of COVID-19 infection in dental clinics. Dental safety guidelines have been issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Dental Association and the World Health Organization shortly after the pandemic started.
Similar safety guidelines and dental care protocol have been issued by the Philippine Dental Association.
The guidelines, for example, require the use of Personal Protective Equipment by dentists and clinic staff members at all times when attending to patients.
“To be crystal clear, you really don’t want to avoid or delay dental care,” said Dr. Ashton. “It is critically important.”
***
Dr. Joseph D. Lim is the former Associate Dean of the UE College of Dentistry, former Dean of the College of Dentistry, National University, past president and honorary fellow of the Asian Oral Implant Academy, and honorary fellow of the Japan College of Oral Implantologists. Honorary Life Member of Thai Association of Dental Implantology. For questions on dental health, e-mail jdlim2008@gmail.com or text 0917-8591515./PN
