Almost a quarter of five-year-olds have experienced tooth decay, latest figures from the NHS and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) show. Oral health experts warn that reduced access to dental care for children, coupled with an increasing need for more serious treatments, is exacerbating lost learning for the most disadvantaged young people.
“Britain has a major tooth decay crisis affecting thousands of young children,” says Dr Linda Greenwall, founder of the Dental Wellness Trust.
She highlights NHS data which shows that more than four in 10 children in the UK did not see an NHS dentist in the last year while there were 1.4 million fewer treatments this year for children by NHS dentists than prior to the pandemic, a drop of 12 per cent.
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