JEDDAH, 28 April 2007 — The Health Ministry has announced a new plan to decrease the percentage of tooth decay after it was estimated that 90 percent of children have cavities, the local daily Al-Madinah reported recently. The report said that the increase in tooth decay came as a result of fluoride deficiencies. Fluoride is added to water with the intended purpose of reducing tooth decay in the general population.

Dr. Muhammed Abdullah Al-Rafei, general manager of dental health division at the Ministry of Health, said that the ministry contacted the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization to adjust the percentage of fluoride added to drinking water to meet international standards. The newspaper report stated that the international standard for water fluoridation is 6.0 to 0.8 parts per million.

“Fluoride helps in making teeth strong by hardening the tooth enamel,” said Dr. Saeed Anjari, a dentist in the Saudi Dental Specialist Clinic in Jeddah. “Many countries like Sweden and Switzerland are required to add fluoride to tap water.” Anjari says one problem he’s noticed is that parents seem to pay less attention to dental hygiene of their children from the start because children are in the process of losing their baby teeth. There’s a perception that it doesn’t matter since those teeth are falling out anyway, he said. However, he said that ingraining dental hygiene is important.

“Regular visits to the dentists is also important to ensure the child’s proper dental hygiene,” he said.

Dr. Tawfiq Sokkar, a dentist working in the Ghassan N. Pharaon Hospital in Jeddah, said that dentists usually prescribe daily fluoride tablets or topical fluoride gels in addition to the toothpaste to children.

“Parents must not rely on fluoride whether in water or other substances to protect their children’s dental health,” he said. “They have to be careful in choosing what to feed their children. They also have to teach them how to brush regularly and visit the dentist frequently for checkups.”

Al-Rafei mentioned during a recent conference that was held in Jeddah about tooth decay that the there are 1,820 consultants and specialists, 25 percent of whom are Saudis. Saudis make up over half of the dental assistants and lab technicians, he added.