Children: Oral Health Debate
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Countess of Mar
Main Page: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)Department Debates - View all Countess of Mar's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(6 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord O'Shaughnessy
I do not have that exact comparison in front of me. I understand that areas that fluoridate have much better oral health than others, which is why, as I said to my noble friend, we encourage all local areas to look at the evidence and make decisions accordingly.
The Countess of Mar (CB)
My Lords, does the Minister realise that, in order to get children to be seen by a dentist, their parents have to take them, and many parents are not happy themselves about going to the dentist? How can that be overcome?
Lord O'Shaughnessy
Probably not by giving out lollies to say well done for coming. The noble Countess makes an important point, but some 7 million under-18s were seen by a dentist in the last year for which data is available, which is an increase on previous years, so I think that things are improving.