Children As Young As One Are Having Their Teeth PULLED Out Because Of Too much Sugar

More than 9,000 children under four had teeth removed last year - with 47 of those babies

The number of young children forced to have rotten teeth pulled out has soared by a quarter in 10 years, figures show.

More than 9,000 children under the age of four had extractions last year as sugar wrecks kids’ teeth.

They included 47 babies under a year old, the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons said.

Faculty dean Prof Nigel Hunt said: “The sweet habits of our children are having a devastating effect on the state of their teeth.

“That children as young as one need to have teeth extracted is shocking. It’s almost certain the majority will be down to tooth decay caused by too much sugar in diets.
“Removal of teeth, especially in hospital under general anaesthetic, is not to be taken lightly.

“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.”

Some 9,206 under-fours had extractions in 2015/16, up 24 per cent from 7,444 in 2006/7.

Extractions for kids aged nine and under also reached more than 34,000 per year for the last two years – higher than in any of the previous eight years.

Prof Hunt said: “What is really distressing is that 90% of tooth decay is preventable through reducing sugar, regular brushing with fluoride toothpaste and routine dental visits.


“Despite NHS dental treatment being free for under-18s, 42% of children did not see a dentist in 2015/16.

“We’d like to see a significant proportion of the money raised through the Government’s sugar levy spent on oral health education.

“Sugar has an almost immediate damaging impact on teeth and if we teach parents and children to cut down on sweet treats and look after their teeth properly, there will be a positive knock-on effect for childhood obesity rates too.”


Source