Local authority leaders have called for more investment in oral health programmes after new research found that last year there were 33,000 operations to remove rotten teeth in children.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said the ‘stark numbers’, published today by the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), highlight an alarming increase in the rate of childhood tooth decay.
Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, called for an increase in funding for oral health improvement schemes, which help councils to work with school children to improve oral hygiene.
‘These stark figures reveal that a lack of access to affordable dentistry is having a worrying impact on the state of children’s teeth,’ he said.
‘The fact that, due to the severity of the decay, on average 119 operations are taking place each day to remove decaying teeth in children and teenagers is concerning and also adds to current pressures on our health service.’
Minister for public health Andrea Leadsom has written to dentists to set out the Government's plans to add fluoride to the drinking water of an initial 1.6 million people as part of the NHS Dental Recovery Plan.
The LGA backs ‘pledges to consult on preventive programmes like water fluoridation’, Cllr Fothergill said.
