A recent news item has revealed how “rotten teeth are putting Sussex children in hospital". A scary one in 11 children admitted to the region’s hospitals is being treated for tooth decay, serious cavities and other dental problems. They are undergoing procedures including root canal treatment, draining of abscesses and extractions of damaged and diseased teeth. Err… ouch!

This news item strikes a chord as the need to avoid “damaged and diseased” toothy-pegs is a subject close to my heat. Here in La Alpujarra area of Spain, where I’m spending some time with my children, there’s a profusion of Spanish citizens and British expats with teeth that are in a shocking state. Black teeth, missing teeth, brown stumps, yellow-grey teeth, no teeth – all manner of mouths are on display here. I know an expat in his late 50s who has one remaining tooth and another in his 40s whose teeth are so bad that a friend once described this person as “Worzel Gummidge” when he threw his head back to laugh. I don’t mean to ‘bad mouth’ anyone (pun definitely intended!) as it’s up to the individual how they manage their own choppers but, really, some of the local ‘oral sights’ are likely to take newcomers by surprise.

And I can see how tooth decay is a slippery slope. Between the ages of about 16 and 26, I hid from the dentist as I was scared. When I was a child, my Mother and I attended a Northern dentist who didn’t employ a nurse (dodgy in my opinion) and once held me down, kicking, when the anesthetic wasn’t working so he could continue to drill a tooth. I maintained a lingering suspicion that he had filled teeth unnecessarily to earn NHS payouts. All of this deterred me from treatment as an adult. When I eventually gave in and booked a dental appointment because I had obvious gum disease, the new dentist informed me that I would have started losing my teeth within a year. That was a worrying wake-up call and I’ve attended the dentist regularly ever since. And, really, it’s not so bad! I enrolled my little boys when they were aged two and three, even though my eldest flatly refused to let the dentist “count his teeth”.

Whereas in La Alpujarra, the tendency towards rotten teeth is, I believe, down to a combination of cost and an anarchic approach to life, in East Sussex I’d wager that the problem is caused by fear, lethargy and lack of information about free treatment entitlements. In my humble opinion, if the parent doesn’t see the dentist because they think they can’t afford it, their kids are unlikely to attend either. The minimum charge for NHS treatment is £16.50 and the maximum for a “complex course of treatment” is £198. However, people in many low income groups can receive free treatment, such as those on Income Support, Unemployment Benefit and Tax Credits. Under-18s and pregnant women also receive free dental care.

Perhaps UK dentists need a well-managed publicity campaign to push people through their doors? It’s a shame that the government didn’t spent public money (while it still had some!) trying to persuade us to look after our teeth instead of advertising the damp squib of a “Swine Flu pandemic” with all those costly full-page adverts it bought in ‘The Telegraph’.

And perhaps Sussex residents who consider dental treatment for their children unimportant should visit La Alpujarra and look in a few diseased mouths. Imagine kissing someone with brown stumps? No? Smiling at your potential new boss at a job interview and showing him your black molars? Struggling to chew a steak? Not attractive? Then why impose this possibility on to your child for their teenage years and beyond? I’ve always wish my folks had corrected my wonky front tooth with a brace during my childhood years. I’ve hated the aforementioned tooth all my adult life. And that’s nothing compared to “Mummy, all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth”, because said ‘teef’ are missing before the unfortunate kids have even completed their GCSEs!

So come on… don’t be silly… open wide for the nice dentist!