BDA praises ChildSmile but calls on government to do more to close inequalities gap

The BDA strongly supports the longstanding investment in a national prevention programme in children’s oral health, ChildSmile. However,  the dentists’ organisation is concerned that almost a quarter of our children (23 per cent), who will start secondary education next year, have decay in their adult (permanent) teeth.

Although there are more children from the most deprived backgrounds who are free from tooth decay – up 1.6 per cent from 64 per cent in 2015 – this is almost exactly the same change as in the least deprived group, meaning that inequalities have not been reduced. 

The BDA notes that the gap that exists between the most deprived and most affluent Scottish children has remained unchanged in the past four years. The absolute difference (21 per cent) in children who are free from caries in 2017 is exactly the same as it was in 2013 and 2015. 

The BDA calls on the government to do more to address this persistent inequality since the overall trend since 2005 (when surveys of this age cohort started), indicates that the level of improvement is levelling off. If the government adopts the radical proposals to curb obesity and tooth decay in a consultation launched today, this would be a major step in the right direction, the BDA believes.