Tackling the Wicked Health Problem of Early Childhood Caries

ABSTRACT

Despite much evidence for a fall in permanent dentition caries experience among children, Early Childhood Caries (ECC) continues tobe a problem in both developed and developing countries. In fact, the prevalence of ECC has increased markedly in the last decade or so, and this is has occurred even in areas with community water fluoridation (although the severity of the disease inthose areas is less marked) [1]. A consequence of that deterioration has been an increase in numbers of preschool children having to undergo dental treatment under general anaesthetic. In New Zealand, those numbers increased by 65% between 2002 and 2014, and similar trends have been observed in England and Australia. The cost of providing that treatment in New Zealand has been estimated to be more than $17 million per year [2]