Calls for fluoride in water to combat child tooth decay

About one third of five-year-olds in the resort suffer from tooth decay, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said

Calls have been made for fluoride to be put in a town's drinking water to help combat tooth decay in children.

Figures show almost a third of five-year-olds in Blackpool suffer from tooth decay - with less than a third seen by an NHS dentist in 2021 - compared to more than 40% across England, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Blackpool's director of public health, Dr Arif Rajpura told a meeting of the town's health and wellbeing board that lobbying for fluoridation of the water was an important step in helping to tackle the problem.

He said: "Ultimately we would like a water fluoridation scheme and it is important to keep lobbying around that."

He added: "We don’t have fluoride in our water although we do have it in school milk."

Since 2016, all Blackpool primary school children in Years One to Six have been able to have fluoridated milk, as part of the school breakfast scheme.

According to the NHS website, many areas of England already have fluoride in the water including Cumbria and it has been “found that water fluoridation appears to contribute to reduced tooth decay levels and doesn’t seem to be associated with any significant health risks”.

Dr Rajpura also welcomed announcements in the King’s Speech including banning of junk food advertising to children, which could help improve dental health.

He added that initial evidence showed the sugar tax on soft drinks was working and there was a reduction in tooth extractions.

His comments came as the health and wellbeing board approved the council’s latest Oral Health Strategy up to 2028.

While the local authority does not commission services, it has to take steps through public health to help improve dental health.

The strategy aims to:

• Promote and protect oral health by improving diet and reducing consumption of sugary food and drinks, alcohol and tobacco

• Improve oral hygiene including with supervised tooth brushing for children

• Increase the availability of fluoride

• Lobby for water fluoridation

• Encourage people to go to the dentist regularly

• Increase access to NHS dental services

The calls from Dr Rajpura come as NHS figures also show that in 2022 only 35% of adults in Blackpool received NHS dental care.