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UK Against Fluoridation

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

No mention of fluoridation - yet

Our children have some of worst teeth in the UK
by Anne Alexander
Political Editor
Children in West Yorkshire have some of the worst teeth in the country with tens of thousands having to have extractions during the past year because they were so rotten.
In total, 48,257 extractions were carried out in the area in the year up to March this year – the second highest in the country
In addition, dentists carried out 187,146 fillings to stop further decay in children's teeth – the fourth highest tally.
Cheshire and Merseyside had the worst record for extractions with 48,308 and Greater Manchester for fillings with 232,711.
Up and down the country, a total of 876,077 extractions were carried out on children and youngsters were given just over four million fillings.
The figures were revealed to MPs following questions to ministers in the House of Commons.
A spokesman for the Department for Health said: "There has been a dramatic improvement in dental health in primary teeth over the last 30 years but there is still a long way to go .
"Currently some six out of 10 children starting school have never known decay but we still rank seventh best in Europe when it comes to dental health among five-year-olds.
"The greater part of this fall in dental decay occurred between 1973 and 1993 largely due to the widespread introduction of fluoride toothpaste and over the last 20 years the improvement has been at a slower rate.
"In 1983, 48 per cent of five-year-olds had no tooth decay and this increased to 54 per cent in 1993 and 56 per cent in 2003."
Health minister Rosie Winterton encouraged parents to make sure their children brush regularly and learn to look after their teeth when they are young.
18 September 2006

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