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In a survey held recently in Toronto, researchers found that less than one percent of healthy urban children had received dental care by the recommended age of 12 months. Less than two percent of them had seen a dentist by age of 24 months. 

Of the 2,505 children around 4 years of age who were surveyed from 2011-13, 39 per cent had never been to a dentist. The children were part of TARGet Kids! (The Applied Research Group for Kids!), a unique collaboration between doctors and researchers from St. Michael's Hospital and The Hospital for Sick Children. The program follows children from birth with the aim of preventing common problems in the early years and understanding their impact on health and disease later in life, according to the press release.

The study noted the reason of never having been to a dentist to be lower family income, prolonged bottle use and higher daily intake of sweetened drinks such as juice. 

With each one-cup increase in the amount of sweetened drinks consumed daily, the odds of never having visited a dentist increased by 20 per cent, researchers said.

They added that of children who had visited a dentist, 24 percent had at least one cavity.

Cavities can cause not just pain in children but also contribute to feeding problems, poor nutritional status and behavioral problems, said Dr. Jonathon Maguire, a pediatrician and researcher at St. Michael's Hospital, in a press release. 

"It's one thing for primary health care providers to be recommending early preventive dental care but for many families this is unrealistic," added Dr. Maguire. "Publicly funded universal early preventive dental care just makes sense"

The study has been published in the journal Pediatrics.