Almost half of Lewisham children didn’t see a dentist last year, NHS figures confirm
Almost 50 percent of children in Lewisham didn’t see a dentist last year, according to new figures from NHS Digital.
Health experts recommend 6-monthly check-ups for children, but the latest statistics from the NHS revealed that only 54 percent of children in Lewisham saw a dentist last year. Figure show that 31,425 children didn’t go to the dentist despite guidelines from Public Health England recommending regular routine checks.
Nationally, the rate of children going without regular dental checks, was alarmingly high and the chair of the British Dental Association, Mick Armstrong, has called for the government to learn from models employed in Wales and Scotland. Thousands of children are missing out on regular trips to the dentist, and it’s no surprise that this is correlating with soaring figures related to hospital admission for dental treatment. Mr Armstrong said that parents need more guidance and information about NHS dental services, which are free of charge for children. In 2016/2017, more than 42,000 extraction procedures were carried out on children in English hospitals.
In Wales and Scotland, there have been major improvements in child registration rates, but England has a way to go. Mr Armstrong said that it’s incredibly important to establish and encourage good oral health habits at an early age to reduce the risk of complex issues later in life.
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