The sharing of food and utensils with adults has also been implicated with dental cavities in young children. Adults also exhibit a significant number of dental related problems. This is often a continuation of the dental problems from their childhood or young adulthood. Risk factors associated with the prevalence of dental disease in adults include increasing age, lack of dental care, tobacco use and diabetes. Diabetes and tobacco use together seem to a factor in dental problems in adults, and may account for the very high incidence of dental problems in Native American people.
Prevention seems to be an extremely important tool in combating dental disease in all age groups.
Smoking cessation, good diabetes control and periodic examination by a dentist play pivotal roles. Children will benefit from early dental visits, which usually occur around the same time as their general well-child examinations. The discontinuation of the practice of bottle propping is important in preventing dental disease in children. I welcome your comments about health issues. Reproduction of any material here within requires written consent from The Circle Corporation.