Kids get free toothbrushes to beat decay ‘epidemic’

TOOTHBRUSHES and toothpaste are to be handed to thousands of children across England in a Government bid to stop them ending up in hospital with ‘catastrophic’ decay.

Dentists and dental nurses will also go into ‘tooth brushing clubs’ in nurseries and schools to teach children why brushing is important – and how to do it.

By the time children are five, a quarter have decay. Over the past two years, 18,000 under-fives were admitted to hospital for teeth extractions. Those with the worst teeth come disproportionately from poor areas.

As a result Ministers are launching a new programme, called Starting Well, in 13 of England’s poorest areas.

Health Minister Steve Brine said it would ‘encourage regular visits to the dentist and highlight the importance of prevention for good oral health’.

But the British Dental Association said last night the scheme, which will not receive dedicated additional funding, was too little, too late.

It urged the Government to go much further, copying a Scotland-wide programme called Childsmile which has improved children’s dental health across the board.

Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, the BDA’s chair of general dental practice, said: ‘Targeting a handful of wards in just 13 local authorities means millions of children will miss out.’

Starting Well will operate in parts of Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Oldham, Blackpool, Rochdale, Bolton, Salford, Wakefield, Hull, Leicester, Luton, Slough and Ealing.