You might be forgiven for thinking that children’s tooth decay and the phenomenon of children having their “rotten teeth” extracted in hospital was some kind of awful new problem that had only arisen in recent years. The Mirror thinks so.
It is hard to find comparable data that goes beyond 2012 but I have found a paper in Nature [Moles and Ashley 2009] that covers much of the New Labour years and the huge 66% growth in childhood hospital tooth extractions due to decay in that time.
It is worth remembering when this problem got out of hand. From 2000 it was decided, rightly I am sure, that because pretty much all childhood tooth extractions were done under general anesthetic and because general anesthetic carries inherent risk then all such procedures should be carried out in hospital. Some of this 66% rise in 8 years can be attributed to this move from primary care to secondary care. But, the number just kept going up after what should have been a pretty sharp regulatory cut off. The chart tells a story of continuing deterioration. The child population increased fractionally in this period from 12.7 to 12.9 million, some 1.6%. In the 9 years 412,358 childrens’ teeth were extracted in hospital. The Moles and Ashley work considered only those under 18.
The more recent stats are Hospital-based tooth extractions in 0 to 19 year olds from the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities. I am a bit confused as to when and why 18 years olds have been defined as children.
Extractions due to tooth decay fell 15% in the five years before Covid hit and then collapsed for obvious reasons. It is not clear that the 2021/22 figures have fully rebounded yet or whether next year’s figures will show further rebound.
Between 2005/6 and 2021/22 the child population increased 12% from 12.9 million to 14.5 million. So, whilst the number of extractions fell 20% between 2005/6 and 2021/22 the rate of extractions fell faster at 29%, almost one third. Bear in mind that, unaccountably, the modern numbers now include adult 18 year olds. Once more the data confounds the narrative.
Phil Taylor 