The U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine has developed a Bite Site to enhance dental wellness. MAJ Georgia DelaCruz, DMD, MPH Dental Staff Officer, Wellness Resource Program, Directorate of Health Promotion and Wellness U.S. Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine (USACHPPM) hosts the H4H Clinician's Corner column every month to bring you clinical information, studies, and readiness commentary. She is the Fit 2 Bite dental subject matter expert! USACHPPM risk communications staff members support the review of Fit 2 Bite content.

If you have a question or comment related to dental wellness visit the dentist's chair, flash your smile, and fire away!

by Dr. Patrick D. Sculley, DDS (MG, USA Ret.)

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) relates an increase in dental caries (cavities) in the primary (baby) teeth of preschool children (age 2-5). However, there has been a decrease in the number of untreated carious teeth of children age 6 to 19. Unfortunately this decrease was not seen in the preschool age group. Experts fear that the negative trend in preschool children may portend an increase in dental caries in the permanent teeth of these youngsters as they grow older.

The report recaps the Healthy People 2010 Objective for children ages 2-4 "to reduce the proportion of young children with dental caries experience in their primary teeth" from the baseline of 18% to a target of 11%." Experts urge a greater focus on the dental needs of toddlers and preschoolers. Preventive measures such as fluorides, parental education, early risk identification (age one dental visits) and intensive disease management are among the measures being encouraged to reverse this trend.

To view the full report in PDF format click here. To access the report please visit http://www.cdhp.org/resource/cdhp_issue_brief_early_childhood_caries_trends_upward.