Nearly half of Bolton’s children have tooth decay and more serious dental problems by the age of five – placing it in the bottom 20 regions for young people’s tooth health in the country. And an Bolton MP has called the figures “deeply concerning”. The National Dental Epidemiology Programme examined the teeth of 341 of Bolton’s 3,949 five-years-olds in the last school year.
Of the children analysed, nearly 44 per cent (43.7 per cent) had enamel decay or worse – more serious decay to the dentin layer under it. And nearly a third (33.
1 per cent) had one or more teeth with dentin decay that had gone “obviously” untreated. The survey covered children attending mainstream, state-funded schools across the country. Over 81,000 five-year-olds were examined across the country, but the North West showed the highest level of dental problems with 36.
8 per cent of children having decayed teeth. Bolton ranked 15th worst for dental health, with Manchester topping the list – with over 60 per cent of the children having decay to their enamel or dentin. Dr Zuber Bagasi, who runs Synergy Dental Group in Bolton, said the borough’s results are down to children having little access to dental care.
He said: "The reason many children in Bolton suffer from tooth decay is a lack of dental access. “As part of the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (ICB), we’re working to combat this by increasing children’s access to NHS dentistry through multiple schemes to incentivis.