The Effects Of Psychological Counseling On Pregnant Women Who Are At High Risk For Carrying A Fetus With Down Syndrome

The prevention of caries is accomplished through the execution of a variety of measures, such as the fluoridation of the drinking water supply as well as the utilization of sealants and topical fluorides (Mouradian, Wehr, and Crall 2625). Despite the ease of preventability of tooth decay, it is one of the most common childhood chronic diseases, with more than half of the nation’s children having detectable caries (Mouradian, Wehr, and Crall 2625). Unfortunately, only 62% of water supplies are fluoridated, and underserved communities with low-income and minority families are usually the ones who are disproportionately affected (Mouradian, Wehr, and Crall 2626). Low-income individuals are generally less likely to seek preventative care, increasing their costs of neglected oral diseases and morbidity factors (Mouradian, Wehr, and Crall 2626). In addition, only one in five children who are covered by Medicaid are authorized for preventative oral healthcare, while restorative care is generally not even a consideration (Mouradian, Wehr, and Crall 2625).

They believe that pregnant women should be offer screening for Down syndrome no matter their age. Before women who were over the age of 35 were suggested to get a Down syndrome screening done. However, now they are suggesting that any woman who is currently pregnant should be offered the chance to have a screening done. The goal of this test is to provide women with the best high quality detection rates with just a few false positive results. As the director of this organization and having a child of my own that has Down syndrome this topic could be difficult to approach in the aspect of seeing the reason why people would want to know whether their child has down syndrome or not. The two main reasons for wanting to know if a child has Down syndrome in the early stage of pregnancy is to consider terminating the pregnancy or so that they have time to make living arrangement to accommodate to child’s special needs. In this case I do agree that women should be offer the opportunity to know if their child might have Down syndrome to prepare themselves physically and emotionally. This would allow them to have time to prepare a good life for this child and accommodate to their special needs. However, women should not use this screening as an opportunity to terminate pregnancies just because the child has Down syndrome. I know that

Seven-year-old Carlos Smith came to Universal Pediatric Dental Clinic for his first dental appointment. During his dental visit his hygienist learned he has a sweet tooth and rather drink juice/soda than water and never turn down candy. He is a big chocolate fan, of course the gummy stuff, the Mike, cheerios and Ikes. His hygienist already see two area of caries on his primary teeth. Dr. Jonathan CalBrim, suggested dental sealants, which could help keep tooth decay at Carlos’ permanent molar as well as other teeth. His parents had no idea about caries as well as sealant. His parents have many questions and worried that information may not have been disclosed to public about sealant.

Thousands of babies are born a day in the United States. One out every 691 babies born has Down syndrome, a disorder caused by an extra copy of the chromosome twenty one. In short, this syndrome shortens the person’s life span, and causes assorted severity of mental retardation. Those carrying this extra chromosome have flattened noses, rounder faces, are petite in size, and are much more prone to additional unhealthy disturbances or effects on substantial systems in the body.

Discovering you are pregnant with a child is supposed to be one of the best days of your life, but finding out your baby has the one extra 21st chromosome could change everything. Author and national correspondent for the New York Times, Amy Harmon, fights for children and families affected by the disease in her article, “Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus.” Harmon recognizes in her article that raising a child with this disease is not easy. She provides evidence of this by including quotes and personal stories from parents and family members whose loved ones are affected by it. She illustrates a genuine passion for the growing number of parents that are “Convinced that more couples would chose to continue the pregnancies if they better appreciated what it meant to raise a child with Down syndrome”(Harmon). To better put it in perspective, an estimated 90% of women chose to have an abortion if they are given a positive diagnosis for Down syndrome.

Kristen Isgro highlights the challenges that the mothers and caregivers go through on a daily basis. Three groups of women, ages ranging from 33 to 66 and all having a child with Down syndrome, discussing the issues such as how they advocate for their children. They also discuss what they have learned from experience dealing with health care providers and educators, and deal with how their children are viewed in different settings.

Dental sealants are used to fill pits and fissures on the occlusal, or chewing, surfaces of the premolars and molars to help protect them from carious lesions and tooth decay (“Dental Sealants”, 2016). Posterior teeth that are selected for placement of sealants are either newly erupted, when occlusal surface is deep and irregular, and have a history of dental caries (Wilkins, 621). So it is very important, especially for children, to get sealants placed as soon as their molars erupt in order to lower their risk for childhood caries. However, there are many factors that have caused children to be withheld from radiographic screenings and treatment; one major factor is parents not being able to afford the treatment. But, one thing that has helped many children get sealants placed is a school sealant programs; funded by the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC has supported for the placement of sealants along with other oral health care activities in many states, including South Carolina. In South Carolina, school sealants programs have been helping save high caries risk teeth since

Often, parents who have poor oral health have a history of poor oral health that is accompanied by negative experiences in dentistry as a child, such as painful restoration and extractions. This history often creates an attitude of fear and negativity towards dental professionals that is passed to their children through learned behaviors. Parents who lack a history of oral health tradition are less likely to seek preventative services for their children (Buerlein, Horowitz, & Child, 2011 and Hallberg, et al, 2008).

“When families get a diagnosis prenatally, they use the words ‘shock’, ‘sadness’, ‘disbelief’”, says Sarah Cullen of the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. “ You feel like like the rug is pulled out from under you. You feel very heavy. You feel very, very alone” (Szabo 1). When parents receive the results of their prenatal test, many do not know what to do. They can feel very overwhelmed, because their baby is unhealthy and there may be nothing that they can do about it. Often the doctor does not know what to do either, because there may not be a cure for the disease.This kind of news alone is agonizing for parents. Mothers should not have genetic testing done to see if their baby has diseases because it causes unnecessary anxiety for the parents, tests may not always be accurate, and it is unethical.

The purpose of this research was to prove that the School-Based Dental Sealant program could improve access to Preventive Dental Service. The authors investigated 8145 students in Framingham, Massachusetts which was considered representative of the 66190 residents living in west/ southwest of Boston. The study began after applying oral survey to all first and second-grade students in Framingham from 2000 to 2009. In this period of time, all students were screened for the number of teeth filled, number of teeth with untreated decay, number of teeth extracted, existing sealants on the first molar, and identification of first molars in need of sealant. And then the dental officials applied sealant to the molars of those students who had high potential of developing carries.

I will first explore what medical ethics entails, then evaluate whether prenatal screening is necessary and whether it is discriminatory as claimed. Based on the benefits, success, statistical data, I will defend the perspective of physically challenged individuals by highlighting numerous success records of families with children affected from Down’s syndrome as it is widely common.

Early intervention and care can prevent most of the oral health diseases. Nevertheless, dental caries remains the most common chronic disease among children and adolescents in the United States (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). About 14.4% of children aged 3-5 years had untreated dental caries in 2009 -2010 (Dye 2012). In addition to pain and discomfort, untreated deciduous tooth caries can spread to roots and may lead to loss of tooth. This can subsequently affect the successor permanent tooth eruption leading to malocclusion which in turn can result in permanent teeth caries. Between 2007 and 2010, 15.6% of children aged 6-19 years had untreated dental caries (National Center for Health Statistics, 2014).

Life defined by the Oxford Dictionary is “The condition or attribute of living or being alive; animate existence. Opposed to death or inanimate existence” (Life n., 2015). A person with a mental or physical disabilities by the definition above, despite their disabilities, still has life. There however is a heated conversation on the worth and quality of life of someone with disabilities specifically Down’s Syndrome. The discussion is on the subject of whether allowing the life of someone born with Downs Syndrome, and all the hardships that come with it, is a life worth starting. This paper will take a look at the Ethical Dilemma of aborting babies with Down Syndrome, the Christian worldview of the quality of life, and the options that can be

When such a condition is detected, or highly suspected, what then? According to Farrell et al., (2014) physicians are most concerned with the ethical issue of pregnancy termination. In the case of Down Syndrome, this is with good cause. A systemic review by Natoli, Ackerman, McDermott and Edwards (2012) found a weighted mean termination rate following a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome was 67%, with a range of 61% - 93%. The evidence they presented suggested that termination rates varied according to maternal age, race, and gestational age. (These variances alone open another ethical can of worms). But one can see, after only brief examination of this one genetic screen, why physicians, and society in general, should be concerned. There is no concensus regarding whether or not pregnancy termination is ethical in and of itself, let alone when one decides to terminate due to knowledge of specific genetic markers or

Although considered preventable, 53.6% of Medicaid eligible kindergarteners studied in California had a history of dental caries and 27.8 % had decay present at the time of the screening (Dental Health Foundation, 2006). Teaching young children effective oral hygiene techniques is the most effective way to protect the child’s teeth and help them to develop a daily oral wellness routine ("Dental Health," 2015). By focusing on those most in need, Medicaid eligible preschool aged children, teaching and reinforcing effective oral hygiene strategies early in life will foster a lifelong habit of oral health wellness (Gardner, Lally, & Wardle, 2012).