Nursery World - An epidemic of tooth decay is on horizon, councils warn

Councils are warning of an epidemic of tooth decay following the lifting of national lockdown.

Latest figures show there were nearly 45,000 hospital operations to remove rotten teeth in children and teenagers last year, equating to nearly 180 a day, according to the Local Government Association.

With seven in ten families with children under five reporting more snacking in the household during the lockdown, the nation's poor record on oral hygiene is likely to have worsened, the LGA has warned.

Closures of early years settings for many children during lockdown has also led to the loss of supervised brushing time and fewer opportunities to educate young children and parents about good oral health.

The LGA believes councils, schools and other educational settings are keen to restart supervised brushing schemes and scale up their oral health work, and is calling for prevention efforts to be fully funded to help keep children’s teeth healthy, including reversing a reduction of more than £700 million in the public health grant to councils between 2015/16 and 2019/20.

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