Significant rise seen in tooth extractions performed on young children

There has been a significant increase in the number of tooth extractions performed on children aged four and below in the last ten years.

New data compiled by the Royal College of Surgeons has shed light on this trend, drawing upon figures from NHS Digital provided under a Freedom of Information request. In total, there were 84,086 procedures carried out on those aged four and under between 2006-07 and 2015-16.

This represents a 24 percent year-on-year increase during the same period, outpacing the 16 percent rise in the overall population of infants in this age group over the same period.

The figures also show more than 34,000 tooth extractions were performed on children aged nine and under in each of the last two years – higher than any point in the previous decade.

To address this growing issue, the Royal College of Surgeons has recommended that a large portion of the money raised through the government's sugar levy should be spent on oral health education.

Professor Nigel Hunt, dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, said: "Sugar has an almost immediate damaging impact on teeth and if we teach parents and children to cut down on sweet treats and look after their teeth properly, there will be a positive knock-on effect for childhood obesity rates too."

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