Poe Center to offer free dental screenings for kids
Here are the facts on kids and their dental health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- 20% of children age 5 to 11 have at least one untreated cavity.
- 13% of adolescents aged 12 to 19 have at least one untreated cavity.
- Kids ages 5 to 19 from low-income families are twice as likely to have cavities when compared with kids who come from higher-income households.
What's more, that untreated dental decay can have lifelong impacts. Kids with poor oral health, according to the CDC, miss more school and have lower grades than those who don't.
Those are all reasons for the Poe Center for Health Education's Terrific Teeth Day, an annual event that provides free dental screenings and more for kids under age 12.
This year, the event is 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, at the center at 224 Sunnybrook Rd. near downtown Raleigh.
The day includes the opportunity to meet a dentist, make tooth fairy pillows, be a dentist for a day and enjoy a magic show.
The Colgate Dental Bus will offer free dental screenings for kids under 12. More information is on Poe's website.
