Effort pushes dental care for young
Dental disease among children is five times more prevalent than asthma in the San Fernando Valley and statewide, a result of poor nutrition, little education about oral health among parents and lack of access to dentists, community leaders said Friday. Susan Abram in the Daily News.
Dozens of nurses, teachers, pediatricians, dentists, and health promoters gathered at Meet Each Need with Dignity, an anti-poverty agency in Pacoima on Friday to discuss immediate plans to raise awareness about oral health in the community. They plan to flood churches, schools, day care centers and clinics with the message: Dental disease is preventable.
"The number one cause of missed school in LAUSD is dental disease," said Dr. Maritza Cabezas, a dentist with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
"We call this disease a silent epidemic because kids go to school with the pain, and parents don't know, teachers don't know and kids think it's normal," Cabezas said. "They don't know they are not supposed to be in pain. They learn to live with it. Dental disease can affect their self-esteem, the way they eat and sleep."