'Add fluoride to Nottinghamshire's water supply': campaign to tackle rising tooth decay in children

• ITV Central's Lee Comley reports

A campaign to have fluoride added to all of Nottinghamshire's water supply has been launched by a doctor and councillor, in a bid to tackle the 'growing problem' of tooth decay among young people.

Dr John Doddy, and Councillor Linda Woodings from Nottingham City Council want the current 30 per cent of fluoridated water increased to 100 per cent.

In an interview with ITV News Central, Dr Doddy said:

"The single biggest population intervention that you can do to improve the oral health of a population is fluoridation.

"Just add it to the water and immediately you see fantastic changes occurring across the whole gamut of the population, but especially to kids, especially the under-fives the changes would be phenomenal."

With the issue becoming more common, this new campaign is one of several projects to try to improve the region's dental health.

Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council have secured £100,000 of ring-fenced funding from NHS England to buy and distribute toothbrushing packs to food banks and other organisations in the community, who provide support for vulnerable people and families.

Charmaine Binns from The Hygiene Bank in Nottingham said:

"Just means that parents don't feel they're having to sort of cut back on products like toothbrush, toothpaste.

"And part of this is that they can have a routine of having their own stuff to brush your teeth."