Revealed: One in six children leaves primary school with rotten teeth

One in six children leave primary school with rotten teeth after binging on sweet treats and not brushing properly, official figures show.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities surveyed 53,073 children aged 10 and 11 and found that 16 percent showed signs of tooth decay.

The affected students had an average of two rotten teeth.

The research shows that there are stark differences between deprived and prosperous areas, with declines in the poorest area reaching almost one in four (23%) – more than double the one in ten (10%) in the richest areas.

Meanwhile, 3 percent of schoolchildren reported having pain in their teeth or mouth “often” or “very often” and 2 percent had difficulty biting or chewing solid foods regularly in the past three months.

Dental leaders today warned that ministers have ‘failed to understand that decay and deprivation go hand in hand’ and said a lack of action aimed at preventing poor dental health is leaving children ‘continuing to pay the price’.

The rate of decline varied across the country, reaching a high of 23 per cent in Yorkshire and The Humber and falling to a low of 12 per cent in the South West.

At a more local level, Wolverhampton has the highest percentage of children with decayed, missing or filled teeth: 42.7 percent.

There are also differences between ethnic groups, with rates of 13 percent among black or black British, 16 percent among whites, 18 percent among Asian or Asian British and 22 percent among ‘other’ ethnicities.

The British Dental Association accused ministers of ‘waiting a long time’ to introduce policies that could reduce the ‘huge oral health gap’ among children.

Eddie Crouch, chairman of the British Dental Association, said: ‘For a generation, ministers have failed to understand that decay and deprivation go hand in hand.

‘This government likes to talk about prevention, but has offered nothing.

‘It has promised access for all, but it looks like it will just throw money at target places in rural England.

“Our youngest patients continue to pay the price.”

Last month, Labor announced it would introduce measures such as supervised teeth brushing for young children in free breakfast clubs to tackle tooth decay.

Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said issues such as ‘tooth decay, stunted growth and slowing life expectancy should be consigned to the history books but are instead the reality of Tory Britain’.

Preet Kaur Gill, Labour’s shadow health minister, said: ‘The Conservatives have left NHS dentistry behind, and now our children’s teeth are rotting too.

‘It is shocking that thousands of children have pain in their mouths so severe that they have difficulty eating. No child should have to suffer from a toothache at school.

‘Labour has a fully budgeted plan to save NHS dentistry by tackling the immediate crisis and reforming services in the long term.

‘We will provide 700,000 urgent appointments, recruit new dentists in the areas most needed, and introduce a targeted national toothbrush program for children aged 3 to 5, paid for by abolishing non-domestic tax status.’

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘We want to improve oral hygiene and access to dental care for all children, regardless of where they live in England.

‘Access to dentistry is improving and around 800,000 extra children visited an NHS dentist last year.

‘We invest £3 billion in NHS dentistry every year and we have announced plans to increase the number of dental training places by 40 per cent.

“We also take preventive measures, such as expanding water fluoridation programs to reduce the number of children with tooth decay.

‘We have already taken steps to improve access and incentivize practices to deliver more NHS dental care, and will include new measures in our Dental Recovery Plan in due course.’