Dentists blame Covid lockdowns for rise in cavities in children

Dentists are warning that they are seeing more youngsters with cavities than ever — but before you throw away the Easter chocolate, they’ve pointed the finger of blame elsewhere.

As children prepare to gorge themselves on chocolate from the Easter Bunny, dentists are warning that they are seeing more youngsters with cavities than ever.

But before you throw away the chocolate eggs and rabbits, dentists say it is actually our bad lockdown habits that might be to blame.

Dentists are saying that even children who previously stuck to a routine and kept good dental hygiene before the pandemic are developing cavities.

Multiple dentists told The Saturday Telegraph that parents were understandably more relaxed around sugary food during lockdown, but now their children were facing the consequences.

“Kids being forced to stay in the house, parents have to entertain them somehow and the easiest way is to sit them in front of the telly with something they are happy to eat … inevitably the amount of sugar they were consuming during lockdown has gone up,” Dr Udit Bhatnagar said.

Emilia Sentana is always very careful with dental hygiene, even during the pandemic — but will get to have a treat or two over Easter. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The specialist paediatric dentist said parents often told him their children’s dental hygiene suffered in lockdown.

Dr Bhatnagar warned parents to keep an eye on hidden sugars in fast food and drinks.

Interrupted appointments during the lockdown were also to blame, because many people had to wait months for appointments or just cancelled them.

“It’s not just more children having cavities … during Covid wait times blew out, so by the time we were able to see them the cavities grew larger and we had to do crowns and extractions,” Dr Bhatnagar said.

“We had reduced access to facilities, we do a lot of treatment under general anaesthetic but we couldn’t go to the operating theatre as often as we normally could.

“These are kids I have been seeing for years and never had a cavity, so something has happened over Covid.”

Sydney paediatric dentist Dr Melissa Warren said she had also noticed this concerning trend.

“Firstly there was an increased frequency of snacking during lockdowns and homeschooling, ” Dr Warren said.

“I think it’s also understandable that morning tooth brushing may have been skipped more often, as the usual routines were disrupted.”

The Australian Dental Association’s latest consumer survey found 25 per cent of parents let their children drink sugary fruit juice every day, and 39 per cent gave their kids soft drinks two to five times a week.

Mum Amee Sentana agreed it was hard to stay on top of healthy habits during Covid, but said she wasn’t being too strict for Easter.

“Of course when it comes to Easter, you have to have some leeway,” she said.

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