本市小学生牙齿健康状况堪忧

Wang Yuanyuan

More than half of the city’s primary school students do not brush their teeth twice a day, according to a report on oral hygiene released by the Shenzhen Chronic Disease Prevention Hospital on Monday.

Eating too much sugar, drinking too many soft drinks and failure to brush were the three main reasons for the increase in dental illnesses in recent years, hospital dentist Chen Zhang said on Monday.

According to the report, about 75 percent of children in Shenzhen eat some form of candy every day and 13 percent were in the habit of eating food containing sugar before bed.

Only 15 percent of children in the city started brushing their teeth before the age of 3 and only 9 percent had been taught how to brush their teeth properly, the report said.

The hospital planned to conduct a series of lectures on dental health in schools to teach students and parents the importance of dental care.

“Teeth are very important because unhealthy teeth can lead to many serious diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease,” Chen said.