The Cornish children with tooth decay by the time they start school

New figures have revealed the shock number of Cornish children starting school with fillings, tooth decay or missing teeth.

The statistics from Public Health England show one in five in the Duchy has problems by the time they reach five-years-old. The total is 21% and it comes as the organisation launches its Change4Life campaign, urging parents to cut sugary snacks and drinks.

Dentists like Elise Helps are backing it: "There are particular types of bacteria that like to feed off the sugar and basically create enzymes and acids that will actually soften and break down the enamel which is the hard surface of the tooth. "Once that hard surface is broken down, that bacteria can actually start to break down the tooth even further.

"Actually by having constant attacks - so by regularly having sugar actually in your mouth - unfortunately that weakens it further and further. "Our recommendation is always to try and keep sugar to a minimum. Keep it to meal times and maybe one other time as a snack".

Public Health England will be working with dental teams in the south-west to give sugar the brush off and help parents change the snacks they give their children.

Its Change4Life campaign advises families to look for 100 calorie snacks, 2 a day max, after research showed children were eating nearly three times the recommended amount of sugar; with half coming from snacks and sugary drinks.

Too much sugar not only leads to weight gain and obesity but also painful dental decay. In the South West an average of 21.7% of five year-olds have decayed, missing or filled teeth.

To help fill in the gaps of people's sugar-busting knowledge, dentists from the region are signing up to the Change4Life public health campaign. With the help of the Top Tips for Teeth dental toolkit they are sharing messages and advice with parents who come into their surgeries about the best ways to prevent tooth decay in children.......