As Halloween approaches, experts say it's a good time to remind kids about dental health
MINNEAPOLIS — It's the sweetest week of the year.
According to Forbes, every year, Americans buy 600 million pounds of candy for Halloween. It also means it's a good time to talk about kids dental health and some low-cost options.
One of them is Community Dental Care in Maplewood. The clinic accepts patients with state or no insurance and they also go out into schools to recruit kids who need care.
"Some of them have a few cavities then unfortunately there's some of them where you see a kid who has a full mouth of decay, pain, fractured teeth. They are not eating well, they are not sleeping, they are probably not focusing in school because they have an ongoing infection in their mouth," said Andrea Jimenez, a hygienist with Community Dental Care who goes out into the schools.
And if they don't have cavities, Jimenez and her teams works to prevent them by sealing their teeth. Sealants are about a third the price of cavity fillings.
"Prevention is always less expensive than restoring. So if we can stop it from happening to begin with. It's a quick procedure, kids tolerate it well, there's no fear, I guess, that goes into it instead of having a cavity," she said.
But the most effective prevention tool - is even less expensive.
"Obviously accessing dental care is important but if kids were just to brush their teeth every day, it eliminates a lot of the bacteria, therefore doesn't allow the cavity to form," Jimenez explained.
Children's Dental Services also serves patients with state or no insurance; they just opened a new clinic in Northeast Minneapolis.