HALF OF SCOTS TOTS HAVE ROTTEN TEETH

HALF OF SCOTS TOTS HAVE ROTTEN TEETH
The other half are doing something right

Kids are worst in UK before they even start school
By Natalie Walker
SCOTS kids have the worst teeth in the UK, with nearly half having decay, fillings or missing teeth by the age of just five. A study of 240,000 school kids across the UK found 46 per cent of Scots youngsters suffered tooth decay by the time they started primary one. This compared with 39 per cent in England and Wales.
But the study also revealed that just nine per cent of kids in Scotland had an NHS dentist, compared with 11 per cent in the rest of the UK.
Kids in Glasgow had the worst teeth, with just over half suffering decay by the time they were five.
Youngsters in Lanarkshire had the second highest level of tooth decay at that age, followed by Ayrshire and Arran, the study found.
Forth Valley kids were the least likely to have bad teeth, with 32 per cent found to have decay by the time they started school.
The figures are a slight improvement on a 2005 survey, when 49 per cent of Scots five-year-olds had tooth decay.
Study author Nigel Pitts, director of Dundee University's dental health services research unit, said fluoridation of the water supply could help to reduce the problem.
He said: "The figures show a small improvement for Scotland but there is clear evidence mass fluoridation would help make things better."
In the West Midlands, where public water is fluoridated, less than a third of kids had decayed teeth.
Andrew Lamb, the British Dental Association's director for Scotland, also backed demands for adding fluoride to water supplies.
In 2004, a plan to add fluoride to water in Scotland was scrapped after opposition.

They never give up