More than 20,000 young children were admitted to hospital in England last year to have rotten teeth removed, with surgeons saying the NHS dentistry crisis is a major factor.
A total of 21,787 children aged five to nine were admitted to hospital to have teeth out because of decay in 2025/26, up slightly from 21,162 the year before.
Surgeons blame lack of NHS dentist access
Surgeons said families unable to get an NHS dentist was a major reason for the admissions. Dentists warn that hospital backlogs mean more children are living in pain and facing long waits for extractions.
The Mirror has launched the Dentists for All campaign in response to most dental practices stopping taking on new NHS patients after a decade-long funding squeeze under the Tories.
It comes a month after NHS data showed that 40% of children did not see an NHS dentist last year.
“Entirely avoidable public health failure”
Professor Martyn Cobourne, dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery, said: “This is an entirely avoidable public health failure. Tooth decay is preventable, yet thousands of children are still ending up in hospital every year for treatment that could have been avoided through good oral health habits and access to an NHS dentist.”
“No child should have to suffer pain, miss school or undergo a hospital procedure because they cannot get the care they need,” he added.
Funding shortfall and contract reform
Labour has promised to reform the “flawed” NHS dental contract before the end of this parliament. But before Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, all the noises coming from the Treasury suggested there would be no additional funding of the scale required for substantial contract reform.
NHS dental funding for England remained at around £3 billion for more than a decade under Conservative governments, failing to keep pace with inflation and population growth. By the time the Tories left power this funding was only enough to fund care for half the population.
The BDA calculated that they had overseen a £1bn real terms funding cut. During this period, the proportion of the NHS budget spent on dentistry fell from 3.3% in 2010 to just 1.5% in 2024, as dentists increasingly handed back their NHS contracts.
Labour increased the annual budget to £3.5bn for 2024/25, but the BDA said fundamental contract reform cannot be achieved without an extra £1.5 billion more a year to restore NHS dentistry as a universal service for all who want it.
BDA and government response
Eddie Crouch, BDA chairman, said: “Decay can and should be prevented, but instead of catching it early many thousands of children reach the point where they need extractions. Ministers have done the right thing on programmes like supervised tooth brushing.”
“But we cannot go on without a properly funded, functioning NHS dental service that gives children access to prevention and treatment before their problems become emergencies. Both children and taxpayers are paying the price for the lack of political will to fix NHS dentistry,” he added.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “It is unacceptable that so many young children are being taken to hospital with dental emergencies, and that dozens of those children are having to undergo major surgery.”
“That situation has been caused by years of neglect and decline, both in the provision of NHS dentistry and in the dental health of young children. This Government is working hard to turn that round.”
“More children are now seeing an NHS dentist than before the pandemic, and our prevention programme is helping children learn to avoid tooth decay.”
“But we know there is much more to do. That's why we are now training more dentists in areas where they are most needed, and working to reduce the sugar content of children's food,” the spokesperson added.
