Almost half of children haven’t visited a dentist by the age of three, a survey shows.

Only 45 per cent of parents surveyed said they had taken or planned to take their child to a dentist by the time their baby teeth appeared – as recommended by the NHS.

The Oral Health Survey 2024 of 5,000 parents, carried out by private payment dental plan group Denplan, also revealed only one in five (21 per cent) of children brush less than twice per day or not at all, up from one in seven (14 per cent) in 2023.

The figures follow research from the government’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) showing there were 47,581 tooth extractions in NHS hospitals in England for patients aged 0 to 19 last year. Two-thirds of these were because of tooth decay.

Many experts say poor access to NHS dentistry has exacerbated the problem – UK-wide, up to a quarter of practices are not taking on new patients – often this includes children.

Catherine Rutland, dentist and clinical director at Denplan, said, “Many parents think “they’re only baby teeth so there’s no need to go to the dentist,” however baby teeth can stay with us until we’re around 12 years old.”

Tooth decay is now the most common reason for hospital admissions among five to nine-year-olds in England, with one in ten three-year-olds already suffering from it.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he “couldn’t believe” the number of children going to hospital because of problems with their teeth, and that he is “shocked”.

The Labour government has pledged to introduce supervised toothbrushing for three to five-year-olds in an effort to combat child tooth decay.

Anne Longfield, executive chair of the Centre for Young Lives, said: “It is staggering that so many children, particularly those living in low-income families, are now growing up with tooth decay and suffering from toothache and discomfort.

“This can affect their quality of life, sleep patterns, eating habits, and impact on school readiness and attendance, speech and language development, and overall confidence. In some areas it has sadly become the norm.

“Many children are not only missing out on NHS dental healthcare but are more likely to suffer tooth decay from a younger age.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government is committed to rebuilding NHS dentistry, but it will take time.

“We will start with an extra 700,000 urgent dentistry appointments to help those who need it most, and reform the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services to patients.

“Prevention is better than cure, so we will also introduce supervised tooth brushing for three to five-year-olds.”