Sir Paul Beresford backs water fluoridation in Parliament
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- Published: Tuesday, 28 January 2020 07:44
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Speaking in a House of Commons debate, dentist Sir Paul Beresford MP said that water fluoridation was ‘by far and away the best-proven method to reduce tooth decay among children, and even more so among adults, is fluoridation of the water supply’. He said one problem it is left for local authorities ‘to instigate and compel companies to fluoridate their water supplies’.
He continued: “There is no financial advantage (in water fluoridation) for the local authorities, but the savings to the NHS would be considerable.” The second problem, with the current legislation, he said, is that ‘few local authority boundaries are coterminous with the boundaries of the water companies. That makes direction and implementation complex. The sensible answer is for legislation to apply nationwide’. But that was not in the Queen’s Speech.
“It could be put into a Queen’s Speech,” he said, “but it will take a brave Government … to include and implement that. I warn that whenever I speak about fluoridation, the green ink letters fly and broomsticks whizz around my house as people complain. However, it works for child dental health care, which is deplorable in this country.”
The statistics (for child dental health) today are terrible, he said. Last year, more than 45,000 children and young people aged up to 19 were admitted to hospital because of tooth decay. They included 26,000 five to nine-year-olds, making tooth decay the leading cause of hospital admissions for that age group. Last year, there were more than 40,000 hospital operations and extractions for children and young people. That is 160 a day. “It is a complete waste of money, it is completely preventable and it is occupying space in our national health service,” Sir Paul told MPs.
He continued: “For decades, the statistics have been absolutely appalling. Deciduous teeth—baby teeth—are particularly susceptible to decay: their enamel is much thinner than that of permanent teeth. Before SNP Members stand up to tell me about it, I should say that action has been taken on care and education, particularly in schools, and to some degree it is working, but those children for whom it does not work, or works only partially, will require extractions. I can remember looking at little kids in east London with appalling mouths—broken-down teeth, abscesses—who were crying and having sleepless nights, and having to refer them to hospital for a general anaesthetic.”
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