Dental health pop quiz!
When we talk about water fluoridation, we’re talking about adding more fluoride to public water systems. Studies show that adding fluoride to public water improves dental health outcomes in communities. Since the ’40s people have debated whether or not to fluoridate public water, but we’re not debating today. Instead we’re sharing resources, so you can make informed decisions.
Dental Health Resources
In the Campaign for Dental Health’s Fall newsletter, we discovered the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Oral Health Prevention Primer. The primer is designed for use by anyone who wants to do more to address the oral health needs of children, families and communities. Here’s what it looks like:
This easy-to-use tool draws on resources from around the country that have been curated and organized to allow users to intuitively find what they need to learn more and implement a variety of oral health best practices. Users can learn more about oral health, understand the roles of various oral health allies, how to collaborate, ways to provide oral health services, and how to advocate to achieve optimal oral health for their community with the goal of preventing dental disease before it starts.
Bringing It Home
We can all agree we want our children and our community to be healthy. That includes dental health. Tooth decay compromises the health, development, and quality of life of children and adults alike. In fact, it can affect eating and sleeping habits, self-esteem, speech development, and school performance. Moreover, tooth decay does not effect everyone equally. Children living in poverty are twice as likely to suffer from tooth decay and poor dental health, and their dental diseases are more than twice as likely to go untreated when compared to their wealthier peers. In Bennington County, that means 20% of children under 18 and 21% of children under 5 are at risk. That’s simply too many. We need your help to improve oral health outcomes in our community. Find out how you can support the work of the Bennington Oral Health Coalition today.