Kids in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire have some of worst teeth

Over 30% of children here have experienced tooth decay - that's the second highest rate in the country.

Published 31st May 2016

Children in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire have some of the worst teeth in the whole country.

New figures show over 30% of 5-year-olds in our region have experienced tooth decay - that's the second highest rate in the UK.

In Hull it's even higher with over 40% of kids suffering with the problem.

Christopher Groombridge runs Teeth Team, a project which goes into primary schools in the city to teach children about dental health. He told Viking:

"In Hull, about 43.4% of children are suffering with tooth decay and the national average is 27.9%. Out of the 326 local authorities it is in the bottom 10 and something needs to be done about it. There is a direct link between poverty, social deprivation and tooth decay.

"What we do is tooth brushing on every school day in the classroom after lunch. We have roughly got about 84% of our children on the programme who are now accessing a dentist whereas before that wasn't the case."

Julie Fountain is also from the programme. She says some of the young children have never used a toothbrush before:

"Quite a lot of them don't actually have a toothbrush at home and we are giving them the skills to brush their teeth every day and actually take that knowledge home and say this is what we should be doing. But quite a lot of the younger ones have never been to a dentist and never had a toothbrush before.

"It's the 4-5 year age groups that have the worst decay. Every other week in the hospital we have 22 cases and the majority of them are six plus teeth out at a time. Some children do lose all of their teeth, they lose all 20 teeth in one go due to dental decay.

"It varies from the ages of three upwards and the youngest child was just two. It affects their self confidence, the eay they eat and speak.

"My advice to parents is make sure your child brushes their teeth twice a day for two minutes with flouride toothpaste, reduce their sugar intake and make sure you visit your dentist every six months."

It's as a new report out today also reveals English children have the worst teeth in the whole of Europe.

Since 2010, increasing numbers of youngsters have been admitted to hospital for tooth extractions for tooth decay.