State Dental Association president fears tooth decay in children

Stuttgart. The President of the State Dental Association of Baden-Württemberg, Dr. Torsten Tompert expects more children to develop tooth decay in the coronavirus pandemic. “We fear a serious deterioration in dental health among children and adolescents,” said Tompert of the German Press Agency. Reason: Group prophylaxis, in which children and young people learn to brush their teeth properly, had to be canceled for a long time because of the pandemic. “Caries takes time to develop. We won’t see how bad it is until later,” explained the dentist.

According to the Dental Association, Baden-Württemberg is actually at the forefront of the country when it comes to dental health among children and adolescents. “Before the pandemic, there was only one tooth for every three twelve-year-olds,” Tompert explained.

Tompart has not yet looked at the effects of the epidemic on dental health in adults. “In my practice, only a few patients didn’t come for a check-up.” At the start of the pandemic, dentists could quickly tell that a trip to the dentist was not dangerous. In his experience, wearing a face-to-face mask is also not a concern. Several media had reported the so-called masked mouth. According to this, wearing a mask for a long time leads to bad breath, tooth decay and swollen gums. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my practice,” Tompert said. (dpa)