Child tooth decay analysis

The figures also show more than 34,000 tooth extractions were performed on nought to nine-year-olds in each of the last two years.

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Mick Armstrong, chair of the BDA, said, “An entirely preventable disease is going almost unchallenged as the leading cause of hospital admissions among young children. These extractions are placing a huge strain on the NHS and, while governments in Wales and Scotland have set out dedicated strategies, ministers in England have offered little more than a collective shrug.

“It’s a national scandal that a child born in Blackburn is now seven times more likely to experience decay than one born in the Health Secretary’s Surrey constituency. These deep inequalities now require real commitment from government, not just token efforts.”

Professor Liz Kay, foundation dean of the Peninsula Dental School at Plymouth University and a nationally-recognised dental public health expert with a particular interest in children’s teeth, is horrified by the data.

She said, “These figures are simply shocking. I find it outrageous that in this country and in this day and age so many children are undergoing surgery for a condition which is largely preventable. If that many children were having another body part removed because of something we could prevent there would, quite correctly, be a public outcry.