Experts, including the chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies, have called for a tax to be slapped on sugary drinks to deter the public from buying them.
In the first study of its kind, officials at Public Health England – a Government agency – examined the teeth of a sample of 53,640 three-year-olds at nursery schools.
They found an average of 12 per cent – one in eight – had tooth decay ranging from small holes, needing fillings or having teeth extracted.
If the trend is repeated across England, then nearly 85,000 three-year-olds have rotten teeth.
Leicester has the highest rates, with 34 per cent of three-year-olds having rotten teeth. Others included the relatively affluent boroughs of Hillingdon, West London, at 25 per cent, and Charnwood in Leicestershire at 29 per cent.
Sandra White, director of dental health for Public Health England, said: ‘The biggest culprit is fruit juice. Organic apple juice sounds healthy on the packet, but actually it’s packed with sugar
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Quote from the Telagraph 25th sep 2014
NHS dentistry is “unfit for purpose” as a result of successive Governments’ obsession with centralised targets at the cost of allowing professionals to spend enough time with patients, Ministers have been warned.
More than 100 family dentists have signed a letter to the Telegraph which accuses Ministers of hiding the “rotten truth” about the “compromised and mismanaged” system of state-funded dental treatment in England.
They say the “continuous limitations and compromises” that hamper their work mean it is impossible for them to deliver the high standards of care to the whole population promised by the Government.
The signatories highlight findings that tooth decay is the third most common reason for a child to be admitted to hospital and that nearly half of all adults suffer from serious gum problems.
They write: “We are witnessing the manipulation of Government figures and statistics that hide the rotten truth, such as dumbing-down how decay is measured and reported, by avoiding modern methods like X-Rays. Just using ‘visible’ eyesight alone misses the hidden decay that’s rotting the population’s teeth.”
A survey by the ITV breakfast news Day Break programme showed over 90% of NHS Dentists felt the nhs targets system compromised care...
We all no the (PHE) love to pull a few statistics out of the bag when a fluoridation scheme is on the cards but the question has to be weather it is a true representation or just complete BS...
This report is also in the Echo, so iv promoted the meeting in the comments section
Thanks for the plug
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