Children’s Oral Health

Maggie Throup Excerpts

Tuesday 31st October 2017 Westminster Hall

[Maggie Throup (Erewash) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to share my thoughts and experiences under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. I congratulate the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) on securing this debate. As he said, it is Sugar Awareness Week, so this debate on tooth decay is timely.

It is well recognised and accepted that the amount of sugar that children eat has an impact on both oral health and obesity rates, and that there is a link between poor oral health and some of the most deprived parts of the country. Poor oral health and obesity are both issues of health inequality. Tooth decay and obesity also represent major public health issues. If we put measures in place to tackle one, we will tackle the other at the same time.

Tooth decay is the leading cause of hospital admissions for young children. Local data show that one in five children in Erewash suffers from tooth decay by the time they are five years old. That is better than the national average of one in four, but children in my constituency are still twice more likely to have tooth decay than their peers in the parts of the country with better performing local authorities; even though the data are better than the average, they are still not good enough.

In the last five years, 170 children in Erewash have been admitted to hospital to have their teeth extracted under general anaesthetic. That is 170 too many. Nationally, about two thirds of such hospital extractions are due to extensive tooth decay. When I looked further into local data, I found that almost half of children in Derbyshire did not see an NHS dentist in the year to April 2017. I find that extremely disturbing because children should have check-ups at least once a year. Tooth decay is 90% preventable; as has already been said, NHS dentistry is free for under-18s, so there is no excuse. Stopping tooth decay would prevent a great deal of pain and stress for children and the potential for bullying. If tooth decay was made a priority for the NHS, a great deal of money would be saved.

I am extremely concerned about the impact of sugar on our nation’s teeth, but I want to expand a little about the impact of sugar generally. Almost a year ago, Cancer Research UK revealed that, on average, teenagers drink almost a bathtub full of sugary drinks a year. Hopefully, such a visualisation—a bathtub full of sugary drinks—will shock some teenagers into changing their habits rather than suffering the consequences that we have heard about. The average five-year-old consumes their own weight in sugar every year. That is horrendous. There is no doubt that such sugar consumption will have an impact on dental health, but also it will have an adverse effect on the current and future health of our nation.

Sugar, tooth decay and obesity are linked. Obesity is now recognised as a major cause of type 2 diabetes, which is now a disease seen in teenagers rather than just the elderly. Obesity is also a major cause of cardiovascular disease and cancer. If young people’s sugar consumption continues and our young people manage to escape tooth decay, there are other health issues waiting for them down the road.

As a member of the Health Committee and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on adult and childhood obesity, I was disappointed by the “Childhood obesity: a plan for action”, published by the Government in August last year. The Committee asked for bold and brave action, but sadly we did not get that. Tackling obesity also tackles tooth decay, so I welcome the sugary drinks levy and the ring-fencing of the moneys raised from that for children, but I want to go one step further. Could some of that money be dedicated to teaching children how to clean their teeth—perhaps through the breakfast clubs some of that money will be dedicated to?

The levy is only a drop in the ocean. I want to take the opportunity to ask the Minister, first, to work with retailers to limit price promotions on high-sugar food and drinks and to encourage the removal of those products from the point of sale—to consider legislation if necessary. Secondly, will the Government update broadcasting regulations, to ensure that high-sugar products cannot be advertised on TV before the 9 pm watershed? Thirdly, will the Government build on the new rules from the committee of advertising practice, to prevent high-sugar products from being advertised in non-broadcast children’s media and to close the loopholes?

Let us really show that we care about both the dental health and the general health of our future generations, and take action now.