Paediatric consultant calls for improved programmes in England amid childhood decay crisis
An NHS paediatric dental consultant has called for improved oral health programmes in England to tackle the childhood decay crisis.
Writing in The Guardian, Claire Stevens said that treating children for dental issues has become increasingly commonplace, and more needs to be done to reduce the number of children ending up in hospital wards preparing for treatment under general anaesthetic. Claire recently removed all 20 teeth from a 2-year old patient as a result of severe decay, and admitted that it came as no surprise to her when figures showing soaring extraction rates were released recently.
Each year, around £35 million is spent on treating dental problems in children, and at a time when the NHS is under serious pressure, it seems ludicrous to Claire and her fellow colleagues to be spending this amount on treating an issue, which is almost always preventable.
The frustration, Claire admits, is that there are things that can be done to improve the situation. In Wales and Scotland, programmes including Designed to Smile and ChildSmile have been incredibly effective. A decade ago, there were thousands of children who weren’t registered with a dentist in Scotland, and now every single child in the country has a dentist. In Wales, there have been similar improvements. There are some excellent schemes in England, such as Hull’s Teeth Team initiative, but the buck has been passed to local authorities, which have had their budgets slashed, and children in England are not receiving the same level of support and care as those in other parts of the UK.
Claire insisted that oral health prevention requires “urgent investment” in England. Investing in preventative measures is not just going to save children from suffering. It’s also a lot more cost-effective than treating children in hospital.
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