Response to Labour's proposed approach for reducing children's sugar consumption

In response to today’s announcement by the Labour party to implement measures to improve children’s health, Professor Nigel Hunt, Dean, Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons said:

“We are pleased to see from today’s announcement that the Labour party have recognised the urgent need to address the state of children’s oral health in England and have looked at measures that can reduce children’s sugar consumption.  

“Many of our members are paediatric specialist dentists who are alarmed at the number of children being hospitalised from tooth decay and having to undergo general anaesthetic, despite this disease being largely preventable.

“This week we released our paper ‘The state of children’s oral health in England’ where we made a number of recommendations for improving children’s oral health including looking at ways to reduce sugar consumption amongst children. Urgent action is now needed by the government, political parties and dental profession to prevent children from being unnecessarily admitted to hospital for tooth decay.”  

Notes to editors

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is a professional membership organisation and registered charity, which exists to advance surgical standards and improve patient care.

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