Every child deserves a healthy start in life, but when it comes to oral health, many children face significant challenges. Children in low-income families tend to have higher rates of tooth decay and have greater difficulty accessing ongoing basic dental care. Some key points that highlight the severity of the problem include:

• Over 40% – 50% of children will be affected by tooth decay before age 5.
• A trip to the emergency room for crisis care is the first “dental visit” for over 25% of children seen in a children’s hospital.
• Of the 4 million children born each year, more than half will have cavities by the time they reach second grade.
• While 9 million children in this nation do not have medical insurance, more than twice that number — 23 million — do not have dental insurance.
• Oral health issues affect children in poverty and minorities far more than other groups.
• According to the May 2000 Surgeon General’s report, Oral Health in America, more than 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental-related conditions.

These statistics are staggering! And they are the very reason HSHC has partnered with the AAPD and the Office of Head Start on the Head Start Dental Home Initiative. It is also the reason the Grants and Programs Committee of the HSHC Board of Trustees has worked tirelessly to develop a new service-based focus for the Foundation. HSHC will address key barriers to comprehensive quality oral health care for all children — specifically Access to Care. In addition, the Foundation will invest in research through our new Oral Health Research Grants and the Future Dental Researcher Fellowship, to ensure that we can provide the most up-to-date science and evidence-based care to all children.

 Through these new initiatives, Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children is poised to be the leading advocate for children’s oral health care.

Source: http://www.aapd.org/foundation/