What We Know

• Tooth decay is an infectious disease and can be passed from one person to another; for example, from mother to child.
• Dental decay (caries) is the most common chronic childhood disease.  Childhood caries is most common among children in low-income families.
• Untreated chronic oral infection can contribute to a lifetime of poor health including diabetes and heart disease -- these are serious and growing problems in West Virginia.
• Untreated oral disease affects employability and the ability to eat, sleep and function.
• In pregnant women, untreated oral infection can lead to poor birth outcomes including premature labor and low birth-weight babies.
• Sugary soft drinks are one of the leading causes of tooth decay in children and adults.
• The good news is that many dental diseases can be prevented.

On the Road to Better Oral Health . . .
Something to Smile About

• Medicaid and the West Virginia Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) pay for oral health care for children.  Medicaid pays for oral health for pregnant women up to age 21.  More than half of all West Virginia children receive benefits through CHIP or Medicaid.
• Part-time oral health educators funded through the State Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health are available in every county to provide a limited amount of oral health education.  Much more needs to be done for oral health education in West Virginia.  But these educators are a good start.
• Education programs for young children promote oral health education and treatment.  Head Start promoted oral health through education and treatment.  Department of Education Policy 2525, regulating 4-year pre-school, requires an oral health exam prior to enrollment.
• Twenty West Virginia counties have eliminated the sale of sugary soft drinks in schools.
• Thirteen community health centers, 13 school-based health centers and one free clinic offered free or low cost dental services in 2007.  Children's dental clinics in Charleston, Huntington, Wheeling and Clarksburg provide free and low cost services; a new dental clinic for low income children is being developed in Martinsburg.
• A multi-year, $2.7 million statewide initiative funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, including West Virginia Partners for Oral Health, is creating positive dialogue, momentum for public education, funding oral health education efforts, and sparking the development new treatment services.