Health Minister Adrian Dix has announced additional funding for dental surgeries required by vulnerable B.C. children and adults. Last year, 6,200 of these surgeries were performed; Dix expects to see that figure grow to 7,100 this year.
His commitment is part of a larger strategy to drive down surgical wait times for some procedures, including hip and knee replacements.
It鈥檚 been known for some time that certain groups of children aged five and younger have shockingly high rates of dental surgery. Nationwide, one-third of all surgeries performed on kids in this age group involve extraction of badly infected teeth.
And these operations are carried out under general anesthetic 鈥� no small concern where young children are involved.
On 91原创 Island, roughly 750 dental surgeries are performed each year on preschoolers; it鈥檚 believed a significant percentage are Aboriginal children and kids with developmental disorders.
A few years ago, dental surgeons at Saanich Peninsula Hospital were operating on four or five children a week. And a new pediatric dental surgery program has been opened at West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni to help cope with the demand.
This strains already limited resources. One result is that patients might wait as long as 26 weeks for their procedures, although that number has been declining. The additional funding should drive wait times lower.
Still, if a child has teeth so badly rotted that surgery is required, that youngster is in constant pain.
All of which raises an obvious question: Why are we seeing a virtual epidemic of serious tooth decay in young children, when throughout the population as a whole, dental caries has been steadily declining for several decades?
One answer is that the epidemic does not apply across all demographic groups. It is concentrated primarily among children from rural areas, low-income families and Aboriginal communities.
There is some evidence that kids from these backgrounds consume more sugar than in days gone by, particularly in the form of juice and sweetened drinks. As we know, daily exposure to these drinks in teething youngsters is a recipe for dental problems.
Changing diets among Aboriginal populations are also likely a factor. A study of Inuit families, whose diets have undergone the largest transformation of any Indigenous group, found that 85 per cent of preschoolers had dental caries, rising to 98 per cent in adolescents.
In rural areas, affordable preventive services might not be widely available, meaning tooth decay is not addressed until it is severe.
The good news, then, is that Dix鈥檚 initiative will certainly speed up treatment for those who need it. That offers a measure of relief.
Yet it does not tackle the underlying issue 鈥� poor dental hygiene and inadequate access to preventive dental care.
This is not unique to 91原创 Island or B.C. Other provinces have the same problem, as do most U.S. states.
Some of this is understandable. Families struggling to make ends meet, especially those headed by a single parent, have numerous burdens to bear. Some corners always have to be cut, and those could include turning a blind eye to what the kids are eating or drinking.
Parents with a developmentally impaired child also struggle to find suitable care. And language or cultural obstacles might get in the way of building linkages with First Nations families.
But clearly there is a major public-health issue here. Either for lack of resources, or inattention, we have failed to connect with families at risk.
It鈥檚 almost beyond belief that 750 preschoolers on 91原创 Island need teeth extracted surgically each year. Worse still, this is merely a temporary solution to a problem that will return when adult teeth grow in.
We must tackle this shameful state of affairs.
