Experts believe that fewer precautions and higher consumption of sweets in the corona pandemic will cost a few children's teeth in Berlin: "It is to be feared that dental and oral health has declined," said Andreas Dietze, Managing Director of the Berlin State Working Group on the Prevention of Dental Disease.
Official figures are not yet available, said Dietze. So far, however, he has been able to rely on the impressions of his employees from schools and daycare centers and on what is reported from the dental practices.
During the pandemic, many children went to the dentist less often, but also nibbled more sweets because they spent so much time at home. "And the public health service - as in other federal states - has been used to fight the pandemic since March 2020. The group prophylaxis by the dental services of the districts in daycare centers and schools has practically collapsed," reported Dietze.
It was only at the end of the last school year that the dental services started with check-ups again, according to Dietze. The LAG also currently has 65 employees who offer playful tooth brushing lessons in schools and day-care centers with the crocodile “Kroko”. “That was also extremely difficult during the pandemic,” said Dietze.
Also problematic: “In many day care centers, tooth brushing was stopped during the pandemic and has not yet been fully resumed,” says Dietze. There is no increased risk of infection from brushing your teeth. However, brushing your teeth was certainly not only suspended everywhere because of Corona, but also because of the shortage of skilled workers.
According to Dietze, the consequences of poor dental health can be serious: "If children lose teeth prematurely, their language skills can be extremely hampered or even prevented." In addition, the jaw can become deformed, which entails orthodontic follow-up treatment.
According to Dietze, dental health in Berlin had actually improved significantly over the past few decades. “The problem is polarization. Fewer and fewer children have an ever-increasing burden of caries. Tooth decay is increasingly becoming a social disease.”
Before the pandemic, preventive check-ups by the dental service in 2018/19 showed that 85 percent of three-year-olds had caries-free teeth. For six-year-olds, it was just over half at 55 percent, according to data from the health administration.