Sugar tax call as children have baby teeth pulled due to decay

CHILDREN as young as five are having all their baby teeth pulled out due to decay, leading frustrated dental experts to call for a sugar tax.

Royal Flying Doctors Service heads to Lightning Ridge in far west NSW to check the teeth of some local kids. RFDS Oral Health Therapist Prashiela Shandi pictured checking the teeth of Maleigha Jefferies at the Lightning Ridge Health Care Centre.

CHILDREN as young as five are having all their baby teeth pulled out due to decay, leading frustrated dental experts to call for a sugar tax to stop irresponsible parents.

Australia’s sugar crisis is so bad that half of all six-year-olds now have decay in their baby teeth.

And one in every 250 Victorian children under five is having to go to hospital for treatment of decay, according to new Dental Health Services Victoria data.

More than 1000 under-10s have had such severe decay that they had to have a general anaesthetic for operations at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne.

With her patients suffering pain, speech problems, difficulty eating, bad breath, sleepless nights, and mental anguish worsened by social isolation, RDHM surgeon Sophie Beaumont says a soft-drink tax is needed.

“Imagine a little three-year- old losing all their teeth and then having to go to school with nothing. It is very traumatic for a child,” Dr Beaumont said.

Children as young as five are having their baby teeth pulled.

“Three weeks ago I had a five-year-old girl who needed 18 baby teeth extracted because of decay. Once I had to remove all 20 baby teeth, but it is not uncommon to have to take out six or seven.”

The Australian Dental ­Association has backed the call after international taxes on sugar-sweetened drinks resulted in an immediate 12 per cent drop in sugar consumption in countries such as Mexico.

“We have to get the message through that sugar does not have to be eliminated from the diet. But it needs to be taken in moderation and used with significant care for the young,” ADA vice-president Dr Hugo Sachs said.

The cost of removing children’s rotten teeth has jumped from $7.6 million in the first six months of 2014 to $20.5 million in 2014/15. In the same period, claims on the Child Dental Benefits Scheme for children’s fillings have soared from $39.1 million in the first half of 2014 to $96.1 million in the next year.

With proven links between poorer communities and oral health problems, Dr Beaumont said a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, backed by education campaigns, would target those most in need.

“Three- and four-year-olds don’t go out and buy their own drink, they consume what they are given,” Dr Beaumont said.

“It is about parents understanding they have to make changes. It is tough, but it is better for the whole family.”

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