Bills would require dental exams for school kids in Ky. and W.Va., the 2 states with worst oral health

To attack oral-health problems where they begin, a bill in the Kentucky legislature "would require all children entering public school to have their teeth checked" by a dentist, reports Sarah Vos of the Lexington Herald- Leader. (Photo by H-L's David Perry shows Dr. Wendy Humphrey, left, dental clinic director at the Family Care Center in Lexington, listening as Alexus Wilkinson explains that her mouth was still numb after she got two crowns)

"Kentucky has some of the worst oral health in the nation," Vos writes. "The state ranks number two in the nation for toothlessness among adults, and number one in toothlessness among adults of working age. The teeth of Kentucky's children are not much healthier. Approximately 42 percent of kids ages 2 to 4 have active cavities. At any given point, some 4,500 3-year-olds, or 8 percent of the population, have a tooth ache, said Julie McKee, the state dental director."

The Kentucky Association of School Administrators "says the bill could have the unintended effect of preventing kids from going to school," Vos writes, but Mike Porter, executive director of the Kentucky Dental Association, told her, "Dental disease, dental pain is one of the number one reasons kids are missing school."

The dentists' group is backing the bill, but dentists are skeptical if not opposed to an alternative that would allow the exams to be conducted by dental technicians or hygenists. The sponsor of House Bill 186, Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, is open to that idea. The bill will be heard soon in the House Health and Welfare Committee, which he chairs. (Read more) A similar bill is pending in West Virginia, which regularly vies with Kentucky to avoid the distinction of state with worst oral health.