Young children not visiting dentist

The Faculty of Dental Surgery has warned that 80 per cent of children aged between one and two did not visit an NHS dentist in 2016-17.

The faculty says that ‘widespread misunderstanding’ among parents is the main factor behind the statistic, but argues that ‘in a nation which offers free dental care for under-18s, there should be no excuse for these statistics’.

Dental experts advise for parents to start taking toddlers to the dentist regularly when they begin growing teeth, but failure to do so could start storing up problems that ultimately lead to young children having to have rotten teeth removed. A total of 9,220 tooth extractions were performed in 2015-16 among children aged between one and four, often because of tooth decay.

Throughout 2016, only 19.1 per cent of one- to two-year-olds visited the dentist, although that proportion rose to 20.2 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March, possibly as a result of the larger media coverage concerning children’s sugar intake and tooth decay.

Professor Nigel Hunt, the dean of the faculty, part of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “The earlier a child visits the dentist, the earlier any potential problems can be picked up, so it is easier to prevent children having to go through the trauma of having their teeth removed under a general anaesthetic.

“Dental checkups in early years are as much about getting children comfortable in a dental environment as they are about checking teeth. Simply getting a child to open their mouth for a dentist to look at their teeth is useful practice for the future.”