- Beauty and Care - Children in the Orthodontist's Office
Despite the long journey to the orthodontist, more than half of the children and young people in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have their teeth corrected. According to a multi-year analysis by the Barmer health insurance company, 53.7 percent of young people in the state underwent orthodontic treatment at the expense of the health insurance company. This value is only slightly below the national average of 54.7 percent.
However, there are also regional differences in the northeast. In the independent cities of Rostock and Schwerin, the quota was 57 and 59 percent, respectively, while in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald it was just under 51 percent. The fact that the quota is consistently above 50 percent, unlike in Lower Saxony or Bremen, shows that access to orthodontics in the state is currently generally satisfactory, according to Barmer state chairman Henning Kutzbach.
Increasingly, general dental practices in rural areas in the northeast are also taking over orthodontic care. Nationwide, this share is 13 percent, and in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern it is 17.6 percent. Kutzbach welcomed measures by the medical associations to strengthen both dental and orthodontic care in structurally weak regions. In the case of practice takeover or new foundation, there are "significant funds" available.
For the Barmer dental report, Kutzbach said that data from around 50,000 eight-year-olds nationwide over a period of ten years, i.e. up to the age of 17, were evaluated. Among them were also data from around 1,700 young people from MV. The analysis showed that girls are more frequently treated orthodontically. In all federal states, the use is constantly about ten percentage points higher than among boys. "Beauty ideals, peer pressure, and parental care are possible reasons why dental and jaw malocclusions are more frequently requested and treated in girls than in boys," said Kutzbach.
According to the Barmer state chairman, the dental report also shows that children and young people in the state still do not go to practices for early detection examinations often enough. Especially in early childhood, there is still too little preventive care. Only one third of children up to the age of four had corresponding examinations. "Prevention is important to detect and treat dental and jaw diseases as early as possible," Kutzbach reminded parents.
The orthodontic treatments for many children in the region are funded by health insurance, contributing to the high percentage of corrected teeth among young people.In the independent cities of Rostock and Schwerin, more than half of the children are benefiting from orthodontic care, showing a positive trend in dental health.
