In 2025 there were 33,978 episodes of tooth extraction due to tooth decay among patients aged zero to 19 years old, according to the Royal College of Surgeons of England. That’s an 11 per cent increase from 2025 and represents 60.5 per cent of all tooth removals. That’s a lot – it’s, hauntingly, one extraction every 15 minutes. Yet, access to an NHS dentist has become increasingly difficult in many areas – with tooth decay the most common reason children aged five to nine are admitted to hospital.
Here, London-based dentist Dr Neil Sikka, director of dentistry at Bupa Dental Care, explains what he did with his own three children when it came to looking after their teeth – and the mistakes he sees even savvy parents make.
Believing that baby teeth don’t really matter
Protecting your children’s teeth early makes a massive difference to your child’s long-term oral health, the future of their general health, and their longevity. It’s a myth that because baby teeth fall out between the ages of six and 12, they aren’t important. First of all, if you get decay in a tooth, it can be very painful for a child, and if you get infections in a tooth, it can really affect the underlying development of the permanent tooth. For younger children, their enamel is softer and so it’s easier for decay to occur, and it decays really quickly once it starts. Enamel doesn’t fully harden and protect you until your late teens. So it’s key to keep those baby teeth as healthy as possible.
