Children are paying a high price for a broken NHS dental service, according to the British Dental Association, with data showing tooth decay to be the leading cause of hospital admission amongst children ages 5-9.
As reported by The Probe, the figures show that in 2025/26 21,787 children were admitted to hospital because of tooth decay. This is in stark contrast with the 11,511 admissions for acute tonsillitis, and is a rise on the previous year – 21,162.
Tooth decay is, generally, preventable. However, figures revealed that nearly 40% of children had not seen an NHS dentist in the previous year, with official data showing that there were 49,112 tooth extractions in NHS hospitals in England for 0-19 year olds.
Whilst there have been policies introduced in recent years which aim to tackle this problem, the BDA has warned that more effort is needed to restore access to care, and to reduce waiting lists for children waiting for extractions.
Eddie Crouch, chair of the BDA said:
“It shouldn’t be inevitable that tooth decay sends more young kids to hospital than any other condition. Decay can and should be prevented, but instead of catching it early many thousands of children reach the point where they need extractions.
“Ministers have done the right thing on programmes like supervised tooth brushing. But we cannot go on without a properly funded, functioning NHS dental service that gives children access to prevention and treatment before their problems become emergencies. Both children and taxpayers should are paying the price for the lack of political will to fix NHS dentistry.”
>Since you’re here, why not read about rising numbers of young patients grinding their teeth?
Main image credit: Unsplash
