KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON - Public Health - Seattle & King County is participating in the Surgeon General's Conference on Children and Oral Health, taking place today and tomorrow in Washington, DC.

Coming soon after the Surgeon General released the Report on Oral Health, the conference seeks to engage its participants in finding ways to increase appreciation of the importance of oral health in overall health, integrate oral health into the system of general health care for children, and promote effective community partnerships to eliminate disparities in children's access to oral health care.

"Although it's often incorrectly seen as simply a cosmetic problem, oral health is a serious public health issue that deserves our concern and attention, " said Dr. Alonzo Plough, Director of Public Health - Seattle & King County. "Oral health doesn't just affect the mouth, it affects the health of the entire body."

Recent research findings which have pointed to possible relationships between oral health infections and general health problems such as diabetes, heart and lung disease, stroke, and premature birth.

"Good oral health and general health are inseparable, "said King County Executive Ron Sims. "As part of my vision to see King County become the healthiest county in the United States, we need to continue our efforts in making dental services accessible for all residents of the county."

Oral health concerns have consistently been a focus of Public Health's efforts locally. Water in most parts of King County has been fluoridated since the early 1970's, with 75% of King County residents having access to fluoridated water in their homes compared to a rate of 60% nationally. Fluoridated water is a particularly cost-effective public health measure, costing less than a dollar per resident per year.

Public Health's Oral Health Program operates a nationally recognized school based program providing dental sealants since 1986. Sealants prevent cavities on the biting surfaces of molars, where most cavities occur. Teams of dental professionals go into those elementary schools that have large proportions of low-income students to place dental sealants on the new, permanent molars of second graders. The program operates at no cost to the school or the families.

Public Health provides a system of publicly funded dental clinics providing dental care to low income residents. These clinics are located throughout King County, with services focused primarily towards children and the elderly.

Significant problems in oral health care for children and adults in King County still remain, however:

• As with general health, oral health status tends to vary on the basis of socio-economic factors.
• There is inadequate funding and services for non-insured adults.
• Dental cavities remain the single most common childhood chronic disease, occurring 5 to 8 times as frequently as asthma (the second most common chronic disease of childhood). Despite the reduction in cavities in recent years, half of all children both locally and nationally have cavities by the second grade.
• Although rates of oral and pharyngeal cancer have declined overall, rates of new cases and deaths among African-American men are increasing.

King County residents wanting information on how to access low-cost child oral health care may call the Community Health Access Program at (206) 284-0331.