Map reveals parts of the UK where 60% of children face losing teeth – as experts warn of oral health crisis

Almost two thirds of children have rotten teeth in some parts of England, official data revealed today.

Statistics laying bare the nation’s dental crisis showed more than a quarter of all children aged five across the country suffer enamel or tooth decay — putting them at risk of needing fillings and, in some cases, tooth loss.

But in Manchester the figure is 60.8 per cent, according to data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).

Just 4.9 per cent of youngsters are affected in Rochford in Essex — the lowest rate in the country.

Tooth decay is caused by having too much sugar and not cleaning teeth and gums well enough.

Health chiefs have long warned that children’s ability to eat, smile and socialise can be impacted as a result, while some may have to miss school due to pain and infection.

Without treatment, children also risk developing holes in their teeth or losing teeth. 

Dental chiefs today called for urgent action to fix the collapse in youngsters’ oral health and warned that children were ‘paying the price for official failure to take dentistry seriously’. 

The figures come from the National Dental Epidemiology Programme survey of five-year-olds in England, which was carried out during the 2023/24 school year.  

A total of 81,905 children were included in the analysis, representing roughly 12.6 per cent of the population in England at the age of five.

Nationally, the proportion of those suffering tooth decay and enamel stood at 26.9 per cent, a drop on the 29.3 per cent reported in 2022/23. 

Around one in 25 kids also had the more serious, advanced decay. 

Behind Manchester, the local authorities with the highest prevalence of enamel or dentinal decay were South Hams (49.6 per cent) and Pendle (49 per cent). 

This was followed by Salford and Torbay with rates of 48.2 and 46.5 per cent respectively. 

By comparison, after Rochford, the areas with the lowest rates included St Albans (6 per cent) and North Hertfordshire (6.9 per cent).  

However, of England’s 296 lower tier local authorities, 65 did either not collect data on youngsters’ oral health or did not participate in the survey. 

Rates of enamel and dentinal decay among 5-year-olds also differed significantly by region, with the North West hardest hit at 37.9 per cent. 

In London, the figure stood at exactly 30 per cent. 

It was lowest, meanwhile, in the East of England with 23.2 per cent. 

And those living in the poorest areas were almost three times more likely to suffer tooth decay compared to those in the richest parts of the country. 

Among this age group nationally, an average of three teeth were affected by dentinal decay out of the 20 that five-year-olds have. 

In October, ministers warned the scale of tooth decay problems among kids is ‘truly Dickensian’, after NHS data showed almost 20,000 five to nine-year-old’s were admitted to hospital last year with the issue. 

Addressing the House of Commons, health minister Stephen Kinnock labelled the ‘massive’ problem ‘completely and utterly shocking’ but warned the Government could not ‘fix this overnight’. 

But today, British Dental Association chair Eddie Crouch said: ‘This oral health gap was made in Westminster, with children paying the price for official failure to take dentistry seriously.

‘A new Government calls this “Dickensian”, but it will take deeds not words to turn this around.’  

The fresh figures also come just days after shock images were published showing dozens of patients queuing in the cold in the hope of getting an appointment with an NHS dentist in Bristol.

Dentists at Saint Paul’s Dental Practice said some families had travelled hundreds of miles to take a spot in the queue.

Others in the queue said they were trying to get their children, who had never seen an NHS dentist, registered, whilst older patients claimed they had been forced to choose between bills or expensive private dentistry. 

It comes amid a growing nationwide crisis, with the number of dentists in the UK dropping by 500 since 2019 whilst the population has grown 1.5million in the same time. 

Data analysed by MailOnline last week also shows three quarters of patients in England have seen queues for NHS dentists worsen since the start of the Covid pandemic.

MailOnline’s map covering all 42 NHS districts found some of the worst-affected regions had over 3,100 patients for every one NHS dentist.

The crisis in NHS dentistry has been brewing for years, with leaders claiming the sector has been chronically underfunded, making it financially unviable to carry out treatments.

Exacerbating the problem is that, as more dentists leave the NHS, those that remain become swamped by more and more patients.

Latest official data shows just 40 per cent of adults have in England have seen an NHS dentist in the last two years as of June this year.

This compares to almost 50 per cent in late 2019, just before the Covid pandemic forced many dentists to temporarily shut their doors as the nation went into lockdown.

For children, who have free access to health service dental care, the proportion of those who have seen an NHS dentist in 12 months has fallen to 56 per cent in June this year.

This down from almost 60 per cent pre-pandemic.