Rural Alaska children have severe cavities

ATLANTA, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Children living in rural Alaska have dental cavities up to 4.5 times as severe as the general population of U.S. children the same age, officials say.

Heath officials at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention found the lack of water fluoridation and frequent soda consumption were strongly associated with severe dental cavities in five Alaska Indian villages.

"Children from villages without fluoridated water had up to three times more cavities than children from villages with fluoridated water," the report said.

"Water fluoridation is an effective and relatively inexpensive method of reducing dental cavities. Many rural Alaska villages have no in-home water or sanitation systems, which prevent these villages from fluoridating."

Additional preventive services, such as providing fluoride varnishes, are necessary to improve the dental health of these children, health officials said.

The report was published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.