[jambutty]

According to the Jeremy Vine show this morning one third of primary school children in Portsmouth have never visited a dentist and some 70% under five haven’t either. Some dentists have suggested that this is a form of child abuse.

That may be a little over the top but it does make a point. On the other hand if a parent doesn’t seek medical help when their child is ill, that parent can be charged with child neglect. So maybe it isn’t quite as over the top as it may seem?

I vaguely remember having my teeth inspected at primary school back in the forties. But then it was during the war where everything, even toothpaste, was in short supply. But we war kids had the advantage of few if any sweets and fizzy drinks so our teeth didn’t take the same sort of hammering that today’s kids have. Apart from the odd smack in the gob by the school or street bully.

However I do remember visiting a dentist regularly whilst at school and in those days there was no local anaesthetic for fillings, no high-speed or sonic drills, just those slow drills driven by a cord passing round a series of pulleys that was operated by the dentist’s foot using a treadle. In later years the manually operated drill was modernised with an electric motor but was only marginally faster. There was only gas for extractions and in those days the dentist shoved a lead block into your mouth on the opposite side to where the extraction was to take place to keep your mouth open after you went under. But even with all these horrors most kids and me were taken to the dentist once a year. The result today is that at 71 I have most of my teeth. This annual check up has stayed with me throughout my life. Indeed it was only yesterday that I went for a check up and came away with a clean bill of dental health.

I accept that with many families where both parents work or in single parent families where the parent works it is not so easy to take their kids to the dentist. But it is only once a year in spite of dentists insisting on once every six months. Actually, by law, you only have to visit your dentist once in 15 months to retain your registration with an NHS dentist.

As most companies have flexible holidays, a parent could take a personal day off to take the child to a dentist, thereby not losing a day’s pay. So really there is no excuse why a parent cannot make sure that their kids see a dentist at least once a year and with an NHS dentist it is FREE even if the parent is the richest person in the country.

Of course brushing teeth morning and immediately before going to bed and restricting munching on sweets would help.

What about a ‘mobile’ dentist, where a dentist or two visit schools to inspect the kid’s teeth? If there is any remedial work needed the child gets a letter to take home to make an appointment with their dentist, if they have one. But that’s another story.