Dentists: How has lockdown affected children's teeth?

Dentists have told Newsround that they're worried about the impact lockdown has had on children's teeth.

The number of dental treatments carried out on children in the UK more than halved last year - there were 4.8 million in 2020, compared to almost 12 million the previous year.

Coronavirus restrictions forced lots of dentists to close and millions of children missed out on important check-ups.

Dentist Hannah Woolnough told Newsround: "There is going to be a long-term impact from the lack of dental access in the last year.

"Children who haven't attended any kind of school have really fallen out of routine.

"At school you generally only have water to drink, but if you're at home and you've got access to sugary drinks and snacks whenever you want, then the chance of getting holes in your teeth will be much higher."

Dentist Helen Woolnough believes lockdown will have significantly changed children's dental habits

Eating and drinking too much sugar, without brushing your teeth, can create serious problems.

Dentists say they're worried children have picked up bad habits that might be hard to shake.

Elsie and her brother Arthur told Newsround they have eaten more sugary foods during lockdown.

Elsie, aged 7, said: "In lockdown we started to bake more sugary foods and then ate them for our snacks."

But they've also been working hard to look after their teeth and clean them regularly.

Research carried out for Oral-B suggests 1 in 3 children have experienced problems with their teeth since the start of the pandemic and dentists say they've already seen some of that damage first hand.

Hannah Woolnough told Newsround: "We've seen children where we have had to take teeth out because the decay is so bad, under normal circumstances we would have seen children earlier and we could have treated those teeth to stop them from being taken out."

Dentists are back open again, but there are still long waiting lists.

"It's not as easy as it was before," added Hannah.

"We have to leave time between patients to reduce the risk of Coronavirus spreading. We have extra cleaning in place and we leave the room empty to let the air change between patients."

It means most dentists are seeing fewer patients than before.

Brushing your teeth at school

New research suggests a third of children aren't brushing their teeth before school.

So what's being done to change that?

Sporting legend Mo Farah is taking time away from the race track to visit schools and share his story and talk about the importance of brushing.

Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah is visiting schools to talk about the importance of brushing teeth

The Olympic champion told Newsround: "I really suffered not looking after my teeth over the years and now I've got a chance to tell my children not to make the same mistakes as I did.

Mo, 38, said "As a child I don't think I did enough, so now I make sure I brush my teeth twice a day."

Now children are back in school, it is hoped classroom-based tooth brushing programmes will help young people reverse any potential damage caused by lockdown.

However, the British Dental Association - a trade union which represents dentists - told Newsround it's worried the number of brushing schemes will be reduced in some areas because of potential spending cuts due to the impact of the coronavirus.

In England, school brushing schemes are paid for by a public health grant. It's then up to each individual local authority to decide how they want to spend that money.

Hannah Woolnough, who has been a dentist for 15 years, said: "The tooth brushing schemes are really important and having those initiatives in schools, where there are supervised brushing every morning, means children will have access to toothpaste and toothbrushes, even in areas where people are struggling."

Have you been brushing your teeth as much during the pandemic?

Hannah added: "Although school brushing initiatives cost a bit of money, the amount of money they save in the long term is really significant."

We got in touch with the government's Department for Health and Social Care which told us that no firm date has been agreed for a consultation on the future of supervised tooth brushing schemes.

A government spokesperson told Newsround: "We want everyone to be able to access affordable, high-quality dental care and the government has taken unprecedented action to support the dental sector throughout this pandemic.

"Children's dental health in England is improving, but almost a quarter of five year olds are still suffering from preventable tooth decay and children in the most deprived communities are hit the hardest."

They also state that the public health grant to local authorities in England will increase from £3.279 billion in 2020/21 to £3.324 billion in 2021/22.