site.btaBulgarian Dental Union: Over 790,000 Children in Bulgaria Have Cavities

Poor oral hygiene, insufficient prevention and the continued spread of cavities are the reasons why Bulgaria occupies one of the last places in terms of children's oral health, said Dr Borislav Milanov, Secretary of the Bulgarian Dental Union, during a press conference in Burgas on Wednesday.

He added that a lack of permanent hygiene habits and rational nutrition also fall into the alarming statistics. He presented the results of the National Programme for the Prevention of Oral Diseases in Children up to 18 years of age, according to which Bulgaria is making progress in terms of children's oral health compared to the data from 2010.

The data shows a 30% drop of extracted teeth in children under 18 compared to 2011. Nonetheless, every fourth to fifth child in Bulgaria has at least one decayed or extracted tooth, and this trend is increasing. Over 70% of five-year-old children have cavities in their baby teeth and 79% of 12-year-olds have permanent tooth decay. More than 90% of all children aged 18 suffer from cavities of their permanent teeth.

Milanov stressed that parents, specialists, teachers and media must join efforts to get out of this vicious circle. "Based on the 14 years of experience we have and on the basis of the work that has been done, we can still see some positive results. We have changed the trend for the development of caries and this is supported by scientific data," he said.

Dr Svetoslav Gachev, a member of the National Coordination Council for the Prevention of Oral Diseases in Children at the Health Ministry, said that tooth pastes for adults should be used by children after the age of six. "After the eighth grade, stable habits regarding oral hygiene should be established," he noted, adding that despite the fact that there is one dentist per 100 children in Bulgaria, cavities are still an epidemic.

Gachev compared the situation in Bulgaria to the USA, where about 20% of children have untreated caries by the age of 19, he said. At the age of 17, at least 76% of children have some kind of damage to their teeth. He stressed that nutrition is one of the main factors in good oral health in children.