Age 5 Children Average Three Rotten Teeth

For decades there have been improvements in the dental health standards in the UK. However after 1999 there has been a steady decline in dental health standards and that has left the average 5 year old with 1.5 bad teeth. Though this is just the tip of the story, the average is nearly twice as high in children in several towns and major cities around the UK.

The British Dental Association has said the figures painted a "desperate" picture and warned that the situation was likely to worsen due to a botched National Health Service (NHS) contract, which has left hundreds of thousands of families struggling to find a dentist. The latest figures are showing that a quarter of children starting school have at least two decayed, rotten or missing teeth. Children living in Blackburn, Nottingham, Manchester and Knowsley have the worst teeth, with an average of three rotten teeth by the age of five.

According to experts, a shortage of NHS dentists and a lack of campaigns promoting dental health have meant improvements in children's teeth have stalled. A report issued by the Government show the 2005/2006 number of dentists who have left the NHS since the introduction of a new contract two years ago. Statistics published in June have already shown that almost 900,000 fewer Brits have seen a dentist since the deal came in.

Experts warned that the number of young children with missing teeth or fillings was likely to rise as the targets set by the contract encouraged dentists to focus on basic treatment, such as removing or filling teeth, instead of complex work or prevention of tooth decay. Dr. Susie Sanderson, Executive Chairman of the British Dental Association said, “It really is a desperate situation when we have got parts of the country where the average five-year-old has lost three teeth. We cannot afford to let this get worse".

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