The Health of Canada’s Children and Youth: A CICH Profile - Section 2

Evidence indicates that immigrant youth are at greater risk of having dental disease – in fact they were five times more likely to have dental caries than were Canadian born youth. One in five immigrant youth required restorative dental care for these caries – compared to less than 4% of Canadian born youth. While the longer immigrant children and youth live in Canada, the less likely they are to have dental disease, they continue to have higher rates than Canadian born young people. Recent evidence shows that the development of dental caries is increasing in African and Asian countries – it is thought that this is due to increasing consumption of sugar and lack of topical fluorides in toothpastes and professional dental products. Poor oral health among immigrant children and youth may result from poor nutrition and diet, lack of fluoridated water, poor dental hygiene practices and limited dental care in the past. This is particularly true for refugee children and youth who are less likely than children and youth from other immigrant classes to have received dental care in the native countries.