- Thousands of children as young as two are losing their
milk teeth because they suck on bottles filled with sugary drinks, dentists
said yesterday. The decay is so bad that some have had all their teeth
removed by the age of five. Severe damage to milk teeth can affect the
development of adult ones.
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- In Glasgow, an audit found 2,000 children a year aged
five or under were having multiple extractions at the city's dental hospital.
On average, between seven and eight teeth were removed from each child.
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- In Sheffield, dentists at the children's hospital said
they extracted all the teeth from an average of one child every week. A
further 24 children a week, on average, had six teeth removed. David McCall,
consultant in dental public health in Glasgow, said: "It is a large
number of children, [who] need a general anaesthetic before teeth are removed
for what is a preventable disease.''
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- The damage is caused by sugary, sticky foods which cling
to the teeth, frequent snacking, which increases the amount of time acids
are in contact with teeth, and the use of sweet drinks in babies' bottles.
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- A survey for BBC Radio 4's Today programme found rates
of decay were worst in Scotland, north-west England and Wales. Dentists
said the belief that decay in milk teeth did not matter because they would
fall out anyway was a myth.
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- Hilary Whitehead, of the East Lancashire Community Dental
Service, said she was shocked to have to treat two two-year-olds with serious
dental problems on the same day. She said they had not been properly weaned
and were still mainly fed by bottle, so they were small for their age.
"They were tiny, just like babies. One had about eight teeth out and
the other had six [removed]. They had come to the clinics because they
were in pain; they were suffering. I really feel it is child abuse."
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- The British Dental Association backs fluoridation of
water to prevent decay. In a survey of five-year-old children last year,
those with the most decayed teeth lived in non-fluoridated areas. The survey
showed decay was three times higher in Manchester, where the water is not
fluoridated, than in Birmingham, where it is.
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- Professor Liz Kay, chair of the British Dental Association's
health and science committee, said: "Sadly, even the simplest messages
are not getting through. Putting sugary drinks into babies' bottles and
teething cups may placate them in the short term but it stores up tears
in the long term as children's teeth become decayed and painful."
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/story.jsp?story=531978
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