d.). Limited information about oral hygiene and difficulty accessing preventive dental care are thought to add to the racial and income difference in the incidence of caries. Underprivileged and minority kids are more probable to have untreated dental decay, compared with more wealthy white children. In a recent examination of national survey data, the General Accounting Office found that underprivileged children had five times more untreated decay than did children from higher earnings families. Untreated decay can result in troubles with eating and drinking, talking, and education. Children who are underprivileged experience twelve times the number of limited activity days caused by dental troubles, compared with more wealthy children (Lewis, Grossman, Domoto and Deyo, 2000).

The baby teeth start to come through at varying ages throughout a child's first year of life. A child is vulnerable to tooth rot as almost immediately as their first teeth come in if they have an adequate bacterial supply present in their mouth and have lengthened contact with carbohydrates. Chalky ashen spots on the teeth are the primary mark of dental problems. Together insufficient oral care and unsuitable eating practices that expose teeth to natural or refined sugars for long-drawn-out episodes add to the expansion of early childhood decay (Bright Futures in Practice: Oral Health Pocket Guide, 2004).

Although a child's teeth do not start to come in until the middle of the early years of development, oral health remains a problem since the possibility that caries might appear throughout the years. Even prior to a baby's birth, parents must ensure that their own mouths are as fit as can be in order to decrease spread of caries by transferring damaging bacteria from their mouth to a newborn baby's mouth. Health care experts must instruct families or caregivers in the following ways to avert spread of these bacteria from themselves to a child:

Follow good oral care and see a dentist regularly.

Do not share spoons, tableware, or toothbrushes with a child. .

Do not clean off a pacifier by placing it in their own mouths prior to giving it to a child. Check with a dentist about possibly using xylitol gum. This gum can have a constructive influence on oral well-being by...

Dental troubles end up in an anticipated fifty one million hours of lost school time, expensive emergency department trips, and medical and surgical actions requiring hospitalization. Bad oral health has been connected to reduced performance at school, reduced social associations, and fewer accomplishments later on in life. Kids are often not capable of expressing their dental pain. Teachers may see a child who is having trouble attending to responsibilities or who is indicating the effects of pain such as apprehension, weariness, touchiness, sadness, and abandonment from normal activities, but cannot figure out these behaviors if they are not conscious that the child has a dental issue (Oral Health Assessment: Training for Pediatricians and Other Health Care Professionals, n.d.).