Leading dentist calls for warning pictures on sugary products to target childhood decay
One of the UK’s most senior dentists has called for warning pictures to be put on sugary products in a bid to reduce rates of tooth decay among children. Professor Nigel Hunt, Dean of dental faculty of the Royal College of Surgeons, believes that foods, which are known to rot teeth, should carry similar warnings to cigarette packets.
Prof Hunt said that urgent action needs to be taken to reduce the number of children requiring hospital treatment for severe decay, as many treatment centres reach breaking point. The number extractions being carried out under general anaesthetic in hospitals in England is steadily increasing and many children are facing a wait of 6 or even 12 months due to the prevalence of the condition, which is almost always preventable.
Warning that services are reaching “crisis point”, Prof Hunt highlighted the severity of the situation, stating that around 26,000 general anaesthetics are administered to children aged between 5 and 9 years old every year. Many hospitals are already operating extra clinics in the evenings and on weekends in a bid to reduce waiting lists, but more needs to be done to tackle the root causes of decay and improve the efficacy of education and preventative measures.
Despite the fact that figures show that standards of oral health are improving among children in England, 46,000 children received treatment in hospital every year and this number could be reduced significantly.
As diet is such an important contributing factor to high rates of decay, Prof Hunt believes that more must be done to reduce sugar consumption and enforcing warning signs could help to facilitate this.
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