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Tories attack rising tooth decay
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More than 36,000 children are admitted to hospital with tooth decay each year and the figure is rising, the Tories said.
Data obtained by the Conservatives revealed tooth decay is now the third most common reason children are admitted to hospital.
There were 36,530 admissions in 2006/07 among youngsters aged 16 and under, health minister Ann Keen said in a Parliamentary answer. Figures for 2001/02 showed that tooth decay did not even feature in the five most frequent main diagnoses.
The figures show there has been a 13% rise in the incidence of hospital admissions relating to tooth decay in five years, the Conservatives said.
Shadow health minister Mike Penning, said: "Labour's decade in charge of NHS dentistry has resulted in a significant deterioration in the country's dental health. In particular, Labour have completely failed to make any meaningful progress in terms of preventative dentistry.
"Regrettably, with a new contract that woefully neglects prevention, these problems will only get worse in the future.
"Labour need to stop dithering and take action to sort out the mess they have created of NHS dentistry.
"A good place to start would be to admit their mistakes and scrap the botched dental contract."
In 2006/07, the two most common reasons for admission among children were acute upper respiratory infections, followed by premature birth and low birthweight. Dental caries (tooth decay) came next, followed by viral infections and acute tonsillitis.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "These allegations are misleading. To claim we are doing nothing on preventative dentistry is simply wrong. All NHS dental practices now have access to evidenced-based practical guidance on effective preventative treatments."
Reader views (3)
Force the water companies to fluoridate the water supply. This is a safe, effective way to dramatically reduce tooth decay in children. It is relatively easy for water companies to add trace quantities of fluoride to the water supply, it is virtually impossible for parents to give fluoride in the right quantities to their children on a daily basis.
- Bloke, London, 20/02/2009 13:06
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Instead of agonising about it and wasting even more of our millions giving them medical treatment, or putting poisonous fluoride into all our water,why aren't the lazy coddled ignorant little people told to clean their teeth?
- Judith C, London, England, 20/02/2009 10:58
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If children are fed useless food and drink what do you expect. With children drinking all sorts of sugary drinks is it any wonder their teeth are rotting away. A Lucozade for example contains 15 spoonfulls of sugar,a can of coke similar. Parents have to be educated to do whats right its not the childrens fault.
- Mr S.Port, London, 20/02/2009 09:35
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