It is not all smiles for China's elderly, as nearly one in 14 Chinese over 65 are toothless, a newly-released survey by the Ministry of Health found.

The national dental health survey revealed that an estimated 98.4 percent of Chinese elderly between 65 and 74 suffer from tooth decay, while on average they lose 11 teeth.

"Chinese people's dental health has not greatly improved with the country's rapid economic development," said Qi Xiaoqiu, director of the ministry's disease control bureau.

The survey findings bear witness to the fact that public attention and government measures to improve dental care have been insufficient. The country lacks an effective administrative framework to supervise the dental care market and raise awareness of the importance of dental care.

The few national dental care organizations, including the disgraced national committee on dental care, unfortunately, seem to have done no more than promote ads for some toothpastes with deceptive or exaggerated claims.

Though we do have a national dental care day, the mostly urban observance does little to better dental care in cities let alone in rural areas.

The larger population living in the countryside without sufficient basic healthcare has been ignored.

Limited facilities for treating dental problems nationwide and lack of education in preventive dental care also point to the sad fact that our teeth are doomed to decay.

Previous reports indicated that China needs 700,000 dentists, but the number of licensed dentists is currently only 40,000.

The situation seems to have slightly improved among youngsters as 66 percent of China's 5-year-olds have decayed teeth, down 11 percentage points from a decade ago. But the percentage is still twice that of European countries.

Low awareness, inadequate education and check-ups, along with tooth-destroying habits such as eating candy, are culprits in the staggering rate of dental decay among children.

If China does not make dental care a priority, today's children will have even less to smile about than their grandparents when they grow old.

(China Daily June 18, 2007)