SOUTHPORT, Fla. (AP) — The parents of a Florida girl suffering from problems with 17 rotten teeth are facing child abuse charges for failing to get her treatment.
The 31-year-old father and 32-year-old mother appeared in court near Panama City in Florida’s Panhandle on Monday and were ordered not to have contact with the girl, whose age wasn’t available.
The News Herald reports Bay County Sheriff’s officials started investigating in January. Several times, school officials went to the home to offer transportation to tend to the girl’s dental needs.
A sheriff’s report says the child arrived at school in 2016 with “severely decayed teeth” and her adult teeth had “begun to grow in and overlap her rotten, ruptured teeth.”
Teachers told investigators the child complained daily about pain and had to eat soft foods.