Toddlers as young as 18 months are having rotting teeth pulled
out, and in some cases older children are having all of their baby teeth
removed in major operations, dentists say.
Sophie Beaumont, a dentist at Victoria's public dental hospital, said
some children were presenting with blackened teeth and pus-filled gums,
suspected to be caused by soft drinks and high sugar diets.
Some parents delayed going to a dentist until their child was in so much
pain that the child's cries were keeping the family awake at night, she said.
And some children's mouths were so bad they had to have all 20 of their baby
teeth removed.
"It is very sad because you can imagine the impact on that child
when they have to go to school with no teeth and try to function without them.
It is quite upsetting," she said.
"It is not uncommon to be taking out 12 or 14 baby teeth in one go.
We would do that quite frequently."
More than 1000 children throughout the state were put under general
anaesthetic at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne last year, mostly to get
multiple decayed teeth removed. Of these, 178 were three or under.
Dr Beaumont said the extractions often had lifelong consequences for the
child – not least a permanent fear of dentists – because of problems with
crowding and alignment that can occur when adult teeth emerge. This can only be
fixed with expensive orthodontic treatment, which is not always available
through the public dental system.
Frequent fizzy drinks and other drinks high in sugar such as cordials or
fruit juices were the main culprit for large-scale decay, she said.
Meanwhile, the Australian Dental Association's David Manton said as
many as 10 per cent of children who were being put under a general anesthetic
to have rotten teeth taken out were returning a later date to have more removed
because their diet had not improved.
Professor Manton, the deputy chair of the dental association's oral
health committee, said non-English speaking or Indigenous children and those
from low socioeconomic backgrounds were most at risk of large-scale tooth
decay.
Young children are typically put under general anaesthetic if multiple
teeth have to extracted, but if just one tooth needs to be removed it can be
taken out in a dentist's chair.
A total of 164,785 children received dental care from the Dental Health
Services Victoria in the past financial year, many of them for tooth decay. The
health agency also runs awareness campaigns on caring for teeth.
Professor Manton said the Australian average for four-year-olds was to
have one tooth with decay, with most of those remaining untreated.
He said a recent survey of more than 600 children from inner Melbourne
preschools found that just over one-third of the children had evidence
of decay.
