An opinion article in the Faculty Dental Journal (the journal of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of England) asserts that some children in England may be experiencing avoidable dental pain and distress because decayed primary teeth are left unrestored or not restored to a consistently high quality by some dentists working under the NHS.

Professor Monty Duggal, author of Carious primary teeth in children: can or should they be left untreated?, says that the level of care provided for tooth decay in young children 'is a matter of national shame'. A recent NHS oral health survey found that on average 30% of 5-year-old children have one either decayed, missing or filled tooth with rates varying widely across the country. Studies also suggest that children from deprived backgrounds have eight times the level of dental disease found in children from the least deprived backgrounds.

'Dental hospitals regularly receive referrals for untreated or inadequately treated decayed primary teeth because some NHS dentists do not have adequate funding streams, or in some cases training, to provide good restorative treatment [...] There has to be adequate resources both for the prevention and treatment of dental decay in children,' said Professor Duggal in the article.

The full article can be accessed at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/rcse/fdj/2011/00000002/00000001/art00003.