Researchers from Peninsula Dental School and the UCL Eastman Dental Institute have used data from the Hospital Episodes Statistics resource to identify a marked increase in the number of hospital admissions for children with caries and other dental conditions, between 1997 and 2006.
The study, which is to be published in the British Dental Journal on 11th April 2009, revealed that there were 517,885 NHS 'episodes of care' for children with dental conditions in the nine-year period. Of these, over half were for dental caries and 80 per cent involved extractions.
There was a year-on-year increase in the number of episodes during the period covered by the statistics, averaging out at 29,676 admissions a year - most of which would have required a general anaesthetic. Extractions for caries rose by 66 per cent between April 1997 and March 2006.
The increase in the number of general anaesthetics for children and dental treatment goes contra to desired best practice and may put children at risk - general anaesthetic in children is at best unpleasant, at worst potentially life threatening.
The research team emphasises that further investigation into the reasons why more children are presenting at hospital for dental treatment is needed, but suggested reasons include: the move post-2000 away from the delivery of general anaesthetic to children in the primary care sector to the secondary care setting; and a possible reduction in restorative care provided for children in the primary care sector, either through lack of training, inadequate recompense or the failure of children and their parents to attend appointments.
One key finding of the research was the huge difference in instances of dental caries and disease in children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Twice as many treatments were provided to children in the most deprived sector of society compared with those from the most affluent. Children in more affluent areas were 33 per cent less likely to present as a dental care emergency than those living in more deprived areas, and they were 75 per cent less likely to develop caries than their less well-off counterparts.