In today’s United States of America, about 74 million Americans have no dental coverage, according to the National Association of Dental Plans. That’s around 23% of the population, or more than double the percentage that lacks health insurance in the U.S. (aka 美国医保). Unlike international students’ vaccine (aka 留学生疫苗) which is usually included in the plan, the majority of international student health insurance (aka 留学生 保险) plans don’t have dental coverage. For example, in addition to purchasing OPT insurance recommend (aka opt保险推荐) by the employer or friends, OPT visa holders need to buy dental insurance separately. Without a dental insurance, one-time dental visit in the U.S. (aka 美国 看牙) quickly squeezes the wallet of an individual. The J1/J2 insurance is similar (aka j1 j2 保险). The total expense on health insurance, therefore, terrifies the insured person.

Tooth decay levels are three times higher among indigenous children, with consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and irregular brushing of teeth forming major factors behind the global dental condition, according to the latest Australian research.

The findings, which also showed that low household income and living in an area with non-fluoridated water offered significant dental risks to non-indigenous youngsters, suggested that cutting the intake of sugary drinks could help everyone but indigenous children required “additional focus on oral hygiene”, the University of Adelaide said in a statement on Saturday.

The researchers analyzed data from Australia’s national child oral health study and included nationally representative samples of both indigenous and non-indigenous children aged 5 to 14 years.

Indigenous children in Australia “experience profoundly greater inequalities on almost every indicator of health and well-being” compared with their non-indigenous peers, including “higher prevalence of nutrition-associated stunting” and “nonoptimal blood pressure growth outcomes”, with the inequalities extending to oral health, according to the researchers. Their findings were published in the JAMA Network Open medical journal.

Dental caries is a global public health problem and the condition forms the most widespread non-communicable disease, according to the World Health Organization. “The association of modifiable risk factors with area-based inequalities in untreated dental caries among indigenous and non-indigenous Australian children differed substantially. Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with dental caries for both groups, and irregular tooth brushing was also significantly associated with dental caries for indigenous children,” according to the latest study.