A new study found that children in deprived areas were three times more likely to develop severe tooth decay resulting in extractions under general anaesthetic.
One in 200 children in the study had at least one tooth removed under general anesthesia within five years. Most of these participants had multiple teeth removed during the study period.
Children from certain ethnic groups were also more likely to have teeth extracted compared to those considered White British. For example:
- White Irish – twice as likely
- Pakistani – four times more likely
- Bangladesh – five times more likely.
Researchers from Queen Mary University came to these findings by analyzing anonymized doctor and hospital records from more than 600,000 children. All participants were aged between five and 16 and lived in North East London. Deprived areas were defined as those with the highest proportion of low-income households.
“Urgent need for equitable access to preventive general dental services”
The researchers said the findings highlight “major socioeconomic and ethnic disparities in severe dental caries in children.”
Nicola Firman is a health data scientist at Queen Mary and lead author of the study. He said: “Linking health data from different settings has allowed us to see more clearly the inequalities in the dental care system.
“Our findings indicate an urgent need for equitable access to preventive general dental services and interventions that target the broader determinants of dental health.”
Co-author Vanessa Muirhead added: “Tooth extractions are a last resort, but when families struggle to access early prevention and treatment services, dental problems can progress until children need more serious and expensive interventions, such as multiple tooth extractions under general anesthesia’.
“Large disparities associated with severe dental caries”
The research was funded by a grant from Barts Charity. Victoria King, director of funding and impact at the charity, said: “This important work, supported by Barts Charity, has shown that there are large inequalities associated with severe tooth decay for children in east London, which could prevented. Supporting research to understand these health inequalities is key to enabling better healthcare for our diverse population in east London.”
Earlier in the year, the Queen Mary Institute of Dentistry opened a new dental clinic in Homerton in partnership with Barts Health NHS Trust. Christopher Treadwin, chancellor of the Institute of Dentistry, said the clinic already provides “faster and easier access to dental care”.
He continued: “Through the excellent work of our students in these clinics, we hope to mitigate the effects of unequal access to general dentistry in North East London and help deliver care to those who need it most.”
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