New research has emerged that suggests children being brought up in the more deprived areas of society may have poorer dental health when compared to children in other sectors of the community.

The study, which will be published tomorrow in the British Dental Journal, states that twice as many dental care treatments were provided to children “in the most deprived sector of society” and that children from more affluent areas were 33 percent less likely to need extra dental care apart from routine dental checkups.

David Moles, professor of Oral Health Services Research at Peninsula Dental School who took part in the study, said the results were “very worrying.”

“[O]ne poor child was admitted to hospital for extractions on seven separate occasions in the nine-year period of the statistics,” Moles said. “If rates of caries and other dental infection are steady, why is there such a marked increase in the number of children being admitted to hospital for dental treatment?”

This may be a reminder for families living in any sector of society about the importance of daily dental care, especially if people do not have access to dental insurance. Ignoring one’s dental health may be more costly in the future.

© 2009 Brafton Inc.

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