Asian five -year -olds in England have 70% more chance of tooth decay than the national average, according to the latest government figures, where experts say that “Swift Action” is needed to tackle this inequality.
The reportPublished by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparitions, it also discovered that five -year -olds who live in the most disadvantaged areas of England were more than twice as likely to have tooth decay (32.2%) as those in the least disadvantaged areas (13, 6%).
In general, just over a fifth (22.4%) of the school children surveyed had tooth decay in the 2023-24 school year, with an average of 3.5 teeth. This was slightly lower than the previous year, where 23.7% of the children had tooth decay.
The research also showed that the prevalence and severity of the tooth decay changed with the location. Children in the northwest of England probably had a dental statement (28.7%). But at local level of authority, Brent in the northwest of London had the highest percentage of decay of 43.4%.
The report also showed grim ethnic inequalities with regard to tooth decay speed, in which Asian children had the highest percentage (37.7%) of all ethnic groups, apart from those who belong to a “other” ethnic group, who had a tooth decay just below Half (45.4%).
Within Asian ethnicity, children of the Pakistani ethnic group (43.2%) had a greater prevalence of tooth decay than children with a Chinese background (24.6%).
Between 2008 and 2017 there was a decrease in the prevalence of tooth decay in children, from a percentage of 30.9% to 23.3%. There was no continuation of this improvement in 2019 and 2022, and only a small decrease in the most recent years.
The report said that the inequalities in the prevalence of tooth decay in all of England had actually stalled throughout England, and stated: “Inequalities in the prevalence of dentinal decline in five -year -old school children have been considerably reduced from 2008 to 2015, but there has been little change in inequalities since then . “
The government has previously promised to reform dental care in England Due to a lack of NHS teachers And the costs of private dentistry have risen considerably in recent years.
Eddie Crouch, the chairman of the British Dental Association, said: “This mouth gap for health care was made in Westminster, where children paid the price for official absenteeism to take dentistry seriously. A new government calls this ‘Dickensian’, but no words are needed to turn this around. “
He added: “The government said that the termination of these shocking inequalities would be a ‘moral crusade’. It is only eligible for that status when ministers actually decay.”
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Dr. Charlotte Eckhardt, dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “Today’s figures paint a disturbing picture of important health inequality in the oral health of young children in England. It is deeply worrying that from the most disadvantaged areas have more than twice as much chance of experiencing a tooth decay compared to those from the least disadvantaged areas. This inequality is further exacerbated in certain ethnic groups. “
She added: “Areas such as London show how fragile improvement can be without persistent intervention. We need a consistent, targeted approach in hard-affected areas, whereby the government takes quickly action to improve NHS-Tandheelatist access for all children.
“The government must go faster to introduce targeted interventions, such as guided tooth drillings, and improve access to NHS to dolorous care to ensure that every child, regardless of his background, has the means to take care of their oral health.”
The Minister of Health Stephen Kinnock said on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Social Care: “It is terrible that almost a quarter of our young children have been left to suffer painful tooth decay when it is so easy to prevent. And it’s outrageous that the New patient premium – Set up against an amount of millions to improve access to patients – has had almost zero impact. “
He added: “We bring plans to the fore to fundamentally reform the NHS -Tandheelkunde, including a good early intervention program with guided tooth drilling in disadvantaged areas, to ensure that our young children have healthy teeth for life. We will also provide an additional 700,000 urgent dental agreements to help those who need it the most, and will reform the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services to patients. “
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