Rotten teeth 'top reason for child hospital stays'

A consultant in paediatric dentistry says it "beggars belief" that children's diets could lead to so many having to have their teeth removed.

Kathryn Harley, former dean of the faculty of dental surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, told the Times: "We have children who require all 20 of their baby teeth to be extracted."

Ms Harley said many of the children presenting with problems could need four or even eight teeth out, with "quite a few" having as many as 14 extracted.

The number one reason for primary school-aged children being admitted to hospital is to have multiple teeth taken out, newly released figures show.

The number of children aged from five to nine needing hospital treatment for dental problems rose by more than 3,000 in England, according to figures analysed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

The research, published today in the Sunday Times, has been described as "shocking" by a dentistry professor and a consultant in paediatric dentistry said it "beggars belief".

Provisional figures for the the period 2013-14 show that 25,812 children from that age group have been admitted to hospital to have multiple tooth extractions, up from 22,574 three years previously.