Half of children didn’t go to the dentist last year

NEARLY half of children have not seen a dentist in the last year, according to disturbing official figures.

Some 42 per cent of youngsters under 18 – almost five million children – did not visit a dentist in 2015-16, up from 40 per cent the year before.

Official NHS guidelines advise that children should have their teeth checked at least once a year.

Last night experts said the figures display a worrying trend at a time when youngsters are eating too much sugar and child tooth decay is at epidemic levels.

Professor Nigel Hunt, Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, said: ‘There is nothing to smile about in these woeful statistics.

‘With the average five-year- old eating their own weight in sugar each year, it is alarming that 42.1 per cent of children failed to visit an NHS dentist at all in the last year.

‘It is appalling that tooth decay remains the most common reason why children aged five to nine are admitted to hospital.

‘In some cases, they undergo multiple tooth extractions under general anaesthetic despite the fact that tooth decay is almost entirely preventable.’

The figures published by NHS Digital also show that 48 per cent of adults did not go to a dentist over a two-year period from 2014 to 2016. Adults should have a check-up at least once every two years.

Separate data published this month showed that parents are feeding under-tens an average of 14 teaspoons of sugar a day, nearly three times recommended limits.

Older children and teenagers have more than 18 teaspoons, mostly from fizzy drinks and fruit juice.

Soft drinks are still the biggest source of sugar for children and teenagers, the Public Health England numbers showed.

Children’s consumption of sweet drinks has dropped very little in the six years to 2014 in which health officials have been collecting data.

Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, of the British Dental Association, said: ‘When half of adults – and nearly five million children – fail to see the dentist, ministers have some very serious questions to answer. This isn’t patient apathy, this is what you get when governments treat oral health as an optional extra.’

The figures also showed that almost 15 million permanent fillings were carried out in 2015- 16, a quarter of them on children.

South Tyneside and Middlesbrough had the greatest concentration of treatments, reporting an average of roughly one in two people receiving a filling. Richmond upon Thames had the lowest, with around one in nine getting a filling.

Dr Sandra White, director of dental public health at Public Health England, said: ‘Tooth decay is a largely preventable disease.

‘Parents should supervise young children and encourage older children to brush their teeth with fluoride toothpaste twice a day and take them to the dentist regularly.’

‘Multiple tooth extraction’