Smiles on kids’ faces in Hawaii, too often, hold cavities.
Smiles on kids’ faces in Hawaii, too often, hold cavities.
So says the state Department of Health, in a “Hawai‘i Smiles” report showing Hawaii’s kids have the most tooth decay nationally.
Data came from 3,000 third-graders in 67 public elementary schools during the 2014-15 school year. Report findings include:
• More than 7 in 10 third-graders (71 percent) are affected by tooth decay; national average is 52 percent.
• In children from low-income families, 31 percent have untreated tooth decay compared to 13 percent for kids in other groups.
• Micronesian and other Pacific Islanders, including those from Guam, Samoa, Tonga and other Pacific islands, have the highest prevalence of untreated decay (56 percent of Micronesian and 41 percent of other Pacific Islander children have untreated decay — four times higher than the prevalence among children who are Caucasian, 13 percent, and Japanese, 11 percent).