Hospitals treat more children with bad teeth than broken arms! More than 35,000 under tens were treated for tooth decay during 2016/17

If a child ends up in hospital, it was once most likely to be due to a bump or scrape they had while playing.

But children under 10 are now twice as likely to be hospitalised with tooth decay than with a broken arm.

The problem is blamed on a lack of awareness by parents about how to care for children’s teeth and their failure to take up free NHS dental treatment for under-18s.