{"id":924,"date":"2019-04-01T11:58:15","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T11:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=924"},"modified":"2019-04-01T11:58:15","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T11:58:15","slug":"dentistry-in-the-news-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/dentistry-in-the-news-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"DENTISTRY IN THE NEWS \u2013 PART 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/11260097963_f6920cb509.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"929\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=929\" class=\"wp-image-929\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/11260097963_f6920cb509.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/11260097963_f6920cb509-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week I\ndiscussed some of the content that was presented in a recent U.S. News &amp;\nWorld Report which featured seven pages of information on dentistry. This is a\ncontinuation of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the\ncolumns in this section of the report entitled, \u201cGuarding Kids\u2019 First\nChoppers\u201d, mentions that childhood tooth decay is \u201cthe most prevalent chronic\ndisease in children\u201d. This is true. According to the report, 28 percent of\npreschoolers have dental decay. There are many factors that contribute to\ndental decay, including poor dietary habits and insufficient oral hygiene. This\nincrease is not only in preschoolers but right through high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the\ncolumn goes on to say that \u201cdental visits should begin no later than a child\u2019s\nfirst birthday\u201d. &nbsp;I think that is a\nlittle early and usually recommend seeing children by age three. However, parents\nshould closely inspect their children\u2019s teeth. If there is anything that is\nseen that is not tooth-colored or doesn\u2019t look right, the child should be seen\nby a dentist. Pediatric dentists are one option but many general family\ndentists are more than willing to see children. If there are issues that\nwarrant a pediatric specialist, the child can be referred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another column\nin the report entitled, \u201cThe Wisdom on Wisdom Teeth\u201d, says \u201cthe latest data\nsuggests that as many as 80 percent of people will develop problems with their\nwisdom teeth\u201d. This is true. In most people, wisdom teeth either will not fit\nwith all of the other teeth in the mouth or they erupt crowded. This may not\ncause a problem right away, but because they are difficult to clean, they\neither get decay or cause periodontal problems with the neighboring teeth. The\ncurrent line of thinking is to remove these teeth between the ages of 16-18, or\nbefore the roots are fully developed. This generally makes for a much less\ntraumatic surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the article\nentitled, \u201cTaking the Cost Out of the Bite\u201d, it is discussed what to do if you\ndon\u2019t have dental insurance. One of the suggestions is \u201cto consider purchasing\nan individual dental policy\u201d, and the other is to look for discount programs\nwhich \u201cgive members 10 to 60 percent off at certain providers\u201d. This is tricky.\nIf you don\u2019t get dental insurance from your employer or are not covered under a\nspouse\u2019s plan, you really have to look at the numbers and also at what you are\nentitled to with particular plans. If it seems too good to be true, it probably\nis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cost of purchasing\nyour own indemnity dental insurance plan usually outweighs the benefits. Most,\nif not all dental insurance plans have annual maximums which average $1000 per\nyear. You pay the premium to the insurance company, which might be $750 a year,\nbut then you only get $1000 in benefits. It may make sense for families but\nusually not for individuals. As far as the \u201cdiscount plans\u201d the column refers\nto \u2013 this is a buyer beware. These plans force you to choose a dentist from a\nlist and this list is usually not very long. If a dentist is willing to accept\n50% of their normal fee for a procedure, it is important to consider the\nquality of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dental health\nis important to overall health on many different levels. Make it a priority!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. St. Clair\nmaintains a private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to\nhealth-centered family dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to\nsee written about or questions you have please email them to him at <a href=\"mailto:jpstclair@stclairdmd.com\">jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\">www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I discussed some of the content that was presented in a recent U.S. News &amp; World Report which featured seven pages of information on dentistry. This is a continuation of that. One of the columns in this section of the report entitled, \u201cGuarding Kids\u2019 First Choppers\u201d, mentions that childhood tooth decay is \u201cthe most prevalent chronic disease in children\u201d. This is true. According to the report, 28 percent of preschoolers have dental decay. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":930,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions\/930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}