Schools should become sugar-free to tackle child tooth decay, dental surgeons warn

Experts described the issue as “incredibly worrying”

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Dental surgeons are calling for all schools in England to go sugar-free in a bid to combat tooth decay.

The call follows an analysis by the Faculty of Dental Surgery (FDS) at the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS) which showed there were more than 100,000 hospital admissions for children under the age of 10 in England due to tooth decay over the last three years.

On Thursday, the FDS published an updated statement stating that it believes “all schools should be encouraged to become sugar free”.

The organisation added that supervised tooth brushing schemes should also be put in place before 2022 so that more children at risk of decay can benefit.

Professor Michael Escudier, dean of the FDS at the RCS, described the levels of tooth decay among children in England as “incredibly worrying” and said that schools play a vital part in reducing the amount of sugar children consume.

“While the Government has committed to reviewing school food standards, we would like to see them go beyond this to encourage all schools in England to become sugar free,” Escudier said.

"We would also support the publication of nutritional guidelines for packed lunches.

“The scourge of child dental decay cannot be allowed to continue. Everyone needs to play their part in ensuring our children have healthy, happy teeth.”

Escudier added that while the FDS has seen the state of children's teeth improve in parts of England, inequalities still persist in different areas of the country.

“We know that children living in the most deprived parts of England are much more likely to experience tooth decay than those in the most affluent,” Escudier added.

"There's a real opportunity to build on the progress that has already been made and stamp out these inequalities, so that all children in England can benefit from good oral health."

Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association (BDA) weighed in on the issue, adding that it will take “more than warm words” to stop decades of progress on children's oral health from going into reverse.

"It's a scandal that tooth decay remains the number one reason for child hospital admissions,” Armstrong said.

“We will not see real progress until Ministers start going further and faster on prevention.”

In 2017, a survey by the FCS found that the number of children aged four and under being hospitalised for tooth extractions had risen by almost a quarter in the last decade.

The results showed that there were 9,206 extractions among this age group in 2015/16 – up from 7,444 in 2006/7.

Overall, there were 84,086 procedures among children under four between 2006/07 and 2015/16, said the RCS.

And in 2015/16, there were 47 extractions in babies under the age of one.

Nigel Hunt, dean of the FDS, said 90 per cent of tooth decay is preventable through reducing sugar consumption, regular brushing with fluoride toothpaste and routine dental visits.

However, 42 per cent of children did not see a dentist in 2015/16, despite NHS dental treatment being free for under 18s, he said.

“That children as young as one or two need to have teeth extracted is shocking. It's almost certain that the majority of these extractions will be down to tooth decay caused by too much sugar in diets,” Hunt said.

“There tends to be an attitude of 'oh, they are only baby teeth' but in actual fact how teeth are looked after in childhood impacts oral health in adulthood.

“Baby teeth set the pattern for adult teeth, including tooth decay.”