3. Quantity: 2010
Consumption now
includes large quantities of
sports and energy drinks.
Teenage boys drink, on
average, three or more
cans of soda per day.
10 percent of boys drink
seven or more cans each
day.
The average for teenage
girls is two cans per day,
10 percent of girls drink
more than five cans every
day.
4. Why do we need the program?
Decay and erosion Erosion and tooth loss
#1 Educate the public: This is a public oral health issue that is preventable.In fact this is the biggest oral health issue since dentists fought for fluoridation.#2 Encourage all ages to decrease their consumption of sport and soft drinks.
Specifically, Gatorade spent 24 million dollars developing G1,G2 and G3 which encourage drinking one product before, during and after a sports event. By encouraging triple the consumption at 32 ounces a serving, the effects to the teeth are predictable.Dentists are seeing pre-fluoride levels of decay especially in the adolescent and young adult population.( college age) Only education will reverse the trend. We do not have the money the drink companies do but we do have a powerful message with our patients’ health and pocketbook in mind.The American Academy of Pediatric Physicians issued a policy statement called: the Use and misuse of fruit juices in Pediatrics. Drinking too much juice contributes to obesity, development of dental caries, diarrhea and other GI issues.1. Recommend 100% juice, no fruit drinks2. No juices for under 6mo of age, 4 oz for 6 mo to 6 years.3. Whole fruits at age 6 and above.4. Discourage the use of sippy cups, use a glass or cup. The sippy cup teaches poor drinking habits such as continuous eating/ or drinking, risk cavities and continuous insulin demand on the pancreasDr. Dominick Zero, Director of oral health Research Insititute and world authority on dental erosion is working on guidelines dentists can adopt.
A highly charged environment of acid and sugar promote decalcification and decay in as little as 18 months. as seen in this post-orthodontic patients.
This is the home page. We invite everyone here to link this website to your component website as well as your individual dental offices. This site has information for patients, teachers, and health professionals.(nurses, and physicians)It was launched August 2010 at the Indiana Oral Health Initiative at the Indiana State Board of Health.The lesson plans in the website state how each complies with the Indiana curriculum guidelines. Our teachers must teach to the Dept of Ed curriculum guidelines and this makes it easy for them. We have wonderfully, illustrated lab sheets for students. The site has experienced 1,147 unique visitors, with each viewing an average of six pages. A total of 7275 pages viewed and 41,436 hits. I do not understand the web analysis. The highest month was September after the Indianapolis Star printed an article about the program and website. We hope for a similar increase when we ask the component Presidents to send a letter to the editor to the local papers promoting children’s Dental Health Month.Again please inform your staffs about the site, they are outstanding dental ambassadors.
The DDT campaign targets 166,000, 4th and 5th graders who have a mixed dentition and will benefit the most.Through science they will learn about ACID , a new concept. They know what sugar is, and what carbonation is and what decay is. The lessons will teach them about acid. The second lab introduces them to pH, also a new concept to this age group. They will be asked to make a display for the school and we hope enter enter it in the DDT display contest.There are 1248 public and private elementary schools in the Indiana. Indianapolis has 170 public elementary schools and 78 private elementary schools . We have the greatest population at risk and this is where we need your help. The private schools do not have an organized distribution system like the Indiana Education Service Centers for public schools. If you have a connections in the private schools through your patients, church, synagogue or community please sign up for that school. You will receive the science kit tonight. There is one kit per school and we ask the teachers to share.It is important the science kits are delivered to a teacher or nurse who can facilitate the lessons. Offer to help with the labs, even the dental team can have fun with this project. In addition to a preventive health lesson, this is also a promotion of good dental health and dentistry. This is a win/win/win project.
The first lab is called “The Disappearing Egg” we have five or six hard boiled eggs and soak all but one in various drinks, milk, sports drinks, soft drink and 4% vinegar. The students then dramatically see the shells dissolve in 24 hours or become thicker when soaked in milk. They are asked to predict the liquid with the greatest acidity.
In the second lab the students will measure the amount of sugar per 12 ounce drink into empty bottles.Then they test each beverage and learn which has the lowest pH. They predict which has the potential to damage a tooth either through decay or erosion or both.
Children are learning many new skills at this age. One of the most important is how to make informed choices. Decay and erosion does not happen magically.Our strong message is prevention and education works. Just as success in sports depends upon preparation, these lessons teach them how their body works. What they drink matters, as does the timing, and the amount consumed.
Drinks Destroy Teeth hosts a website with information for individuals, health professionals and teachers.The website has free downloadable fact sheets dentists may use in the office.In summary, we are sponsoring two labs appropriate for 4th and 5th graders.THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND ATTENTION TODAY.Help spread the word that: Drinks Destroy Teeth!
