Children’s access to NHS dentistry remains poor despite government action, analysis reveals
LONDON: A new report by the University of Leeds has revealed that children’s access to NHS dentistry and rates of tooth decay remain “very poor” across England — despite recent government efforts to improve oral health.
The analysis, conducted under the Child of the North initiative, found that while new national programmes such as supervised toothbrushing and water fluoridation expansion offer signs of cautious optimism, major disparities persist between rich and poor communities.
According to the study, children living in England’s most deprived areas are three times more likely to be admitted to hospital for tooth extractions compared to those in more affluent regions.
Persistent inequalities in children’s oral health
The report’s findings paint a concerning picture of ongoing inequality:
- Children in the most deprived areas are over twice as likely to experience tooth decay as those in wealthier neighborhoods.
- More than one in four (26.9%) five-year-olds have tooth decay.
- In West Yorkshire, around 950 school days were lost in one academic year due to dental-related absences.
Experts say that although dental disease remains stubbornly high, recent government actions — including the launch of the national supervised toothbrushing programme and plans for water fluoridation in the North East — mark an important step forward.
Experts call for scaling up preventive programmes
Professor Peter Day, consultant in paediatric dentistry at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and professor of children’s oral health at the University of Leeds, co-led the report with Professor Zoe Marshman from the University of Sheffield. Both have advised the government on its new supervised brushing scheme aimed at reaching 600,000 children in deprived areas.
“These are exciting times. While disease levels remain stubbornly high, the government has taken significant steps to implement key policy recommendations,” Professor Day said. “As we move into delivery mode, evaluating impact and ensuring school and nursery engagement will be critical.”
Professor Marshman emphasized that no real improvement in children’s oral health has been recorded in nearly a decade.
“To achieve meaningful change, we need partnership working between national and local government, education, and health professionals,” she said. “Universities must also play a key role in assessing how these initiatives affect both dental disease and child wellbeing.”
Need for urgent and equitable oral health policies
While researchers welcomed new oral health policies, they warned that without scaling up interventions, inequality in NHS dental care will persist — leaving millions of children vulnerable to preventable disease.
The authors concluded that tackling the oral health crisis requires a long-term, data-driven strategy focused on prevention, accessibility, and community engagement.
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