The Importance of Proper Dental Care from Early Ages

The days when young children got their dental care for free, are long gone in Worcester.

Everything stopped in the 70’s when several dental school clinics have been shut down, and no more free dental screenings, dental exams or orthodontic work was performed.

However, there is a revival of the importance of dental care from early ages, and for that a pilot oral health initiative was started.

The project involves 730 Worcester Head Start students ages 3 to 5, and the initiative is run by the nonprofit dental research facility The Forsyth Institute (Cambridge).

According to Mr. James G. Gardiner who is a public health consultant from Grafton, the location of the pilot initiative is not a chance. They have chosen Worcester mainly because this is a place where there is a high dental disease rate existent, and because the water supplies are not fluoridated here. Mr. Gardiner started off the pilot program with Forsythe thanks to a grant of $15,000.

A few months ago, students have received what is called a “Baby Tooth Timeline” growth colorful chart where there is combined height and dental health timeline information for every year for children up to 5 years of age.

One of the classroom activities is that children brush their teeth after meals, and what can be found on the timeline is actually being respected. All the while, parents give an extremely positive feedback regarding the program.

Here are some important points from the timeline:

• From 0-6 months the baby’s mouth has to be gently rubbed with a damp washcloth along the gums
• 6-12 months- when the first baby tooth appears, a dental visit should be scheduled
• Year 1- being careful not to share spoons or cups or tooth brushes, and getting fluoride varnish 2x per year.
• Year 2-child should be taken to the dentist once every six months, and parents should brush the teeth of their children
• Year 3- being careful about replacing the toothbrush after it has worn out
• Year 4- brushing teeth every day is important
• Year 5- loosing baby teeth may occur at this age. Parents should brush the teeth of their child until 8 years of age.