My oldest son is autistic and to be honest we had real problems brushing his teeth when he was younger. At one point he had about 5 cavities in his mouth and we were forced to find a dentist who would do surgery in his mouth with sedation because there was no way he would allow a dentist, or anyone for that matter, to touch him.
We had to take him to the University of Florida in Gainesville to have his mouth fixed and that was about 5 years ago. Wehad very limited choices and if I am not mistaking the UF dentist was the only one who would even take our son. In total it cost me about $2500 cash to have his teeth fixed and they implanted 3 steel replacements for his baby teeth. Now today he has been taught to brush better and he remebers how painful and difficult the dentist was so he takes better care of his teeth.
I have come to realize that we are not alone and many parents in Central Florida have the same problem. It actually shocks me how many young people around here have such horrible teeth. i know at least a doze persons who have what I call "muck mouth" because pf premature tooth decay. It's very strange to me that somany 20 somethings have such horrible teeth nd maybe now I understand more why this is happening.
According to the article below Florida is having a real issue in taking care of our childrens teeth which is such a shame when you consider what the state will look like in the future. Can you imagine 25% of the state with no teeth? This seems like it must be a public health hazard but I guess for many it is considered a cosmetic issue and a personal problem.
Problems persist with dental care for children
The Gainesville Sun analyzed statistics from the State Oral Health Improvement Plan for Disadvantaged Floridians, findings from the Pew Center on the States' 2010 "Children's Dental Campaign" report and numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and found that Florida has one of the worst records in the country for providing dental care for children who are on Medicaid and live in poor, rural communities.
August 9, 2010
Ocala News