21,000 KIDS IN HOSPITAL OVER TOOTH DECAY

Plea for funding boost as 'health crisis' worsens

- BY MARTIN BAGOT Health and Science Editor

MORE than 21,000 youngsters went to hospital last year due to tooth decay, with many of them losing teeth.

The preventable condition is by far the biggest reason for hospital admission for five to nine-year-olds.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England has called it "a public health emergency".

Many kids wait in pain for up to 12 months to get rotten teeth taken out.