Over 500 Children with Cavities are Hospitalized Every Week: Survey

Tooth-decay is the most common reason for hospitalization in children, finds a research.

Cavities and dental caries require extensive treatments and procedures to restore oral health. The prevalence of oral diseases in children has seen an increase in recent times due to poor dental hygiene and increased accessibility of sugary drinks and chocolates. A survey reports that over 26,000 young children were admitted to hospitals for tooth decay in the U.K. during 2013. Every week within the last one year, nearly 500 children between the ages of five and nine with cavities were hospitalized.

The overall admission rates for children in this age group rose more than 3,000 in the past three years, from 22,574 in 2010 and 2011 to 25,812 in 2013 and 2014, according to data by the Health and Social Care Information Center. In many cases the patients required removal of all 20 teeth and this was mainly because of intake of sweetened drinks and fruit juices.

"It beggars belief that their diets could produce such a drastic effect," said Kathryn Harley, a consultant in pediatric dentistry," reports the Telegraph.

"They are going into hospital because they are either presenting with acute problems with pain or because the stage of dental disease, the number of teeth with decay, is such that they need a general anesthetic," she adds.

Alarmed by the findings, health experts urge parents and schools to regulate their children's eating and drink habits and also impose a ban on sugary drinks. Many dentists even question the need to perform dental fillings on decayed milk teeth, which mostly fall off over time. They believe it is best to encourage healthy and hygienic habits in children from an early age than conducting complicated dental treatments.

"A lot of dentists are unhappy about taking out teeth generally," he told the paper. "They certainly don't like to take kids' teeth out," said Jimmy Steele professor at the Newcastle University, reports the Belfast Telegraph.