A senior Conservative MP has been ridiculed over the “bizarre moment” she appeared to suggest that babies get teeth 18 months before they are born.
Former cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom said children’s teeth are “about four-and-half years old” by the time they turn three.
Ms Leadsom, who represents Northamptonshire South and currently serves as a junior minister in the health department, was speaking in the House of Commons during a debate on dentistry.
MPs were discussing Labour’s plan to introduce mandatory tooth brushing in schools to help improve the health of children’s teeth and ease the dentistry crisis.
Andrea Leadsom says children’s teeth are ‘about four-and-a-half years old’ by the time they are three— (PA Media)
Ms Leadsom argued it was “much more important” to have supervised toothbrushing in the “family hub, education for parents and supervised toothbrushing in nurseries”.
She said: “The opposition’s motion talks about supervised toothbrushing for three to five-year-olds. I do not know whether they do not know this, but we have teeth from before we are born.
“If children do not get your supervised toothbrushing until they are three at a minimum, their teeth are about four-and-a-half years old.
“It is much more important to have that supervised toothbrushing in the family hub, education for parents and supervised toothbrushing in nurseries.”
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary overseeing Labour’s proposals, was among those to criticise Mr Leadsom.
“No wonder Rishi floated maths to 18,” he wrote in a post on X, referring to the prime minister’s proposals to make maths mandatory until students become adults.
Mr Streeting’s colleagues in the Labour press team also mocked Ms Leadsom, who ran for the Tory leadership in 2016 but lost out to eventual winner Theresa May.
“The bizarre moment today when the Tory children’s health minister claimed children get their teeth 18 months before they are born,” the party wrote on X.
Babies’ bottom teeth are the first to arrive, usually at around five-to-seven months. Most children will have all their “milk teeth” by the time they are between two and three years old.
These then all fall out and are replaced by deciduous teeth which are for life.
Labour said its idea to introduce mandatory toothbrushing for three-to-five-year-olds to prevent tooth decay would come with an extra 700,000 urgent dentist appointments and would form part of a wider effort to fix the dentistry crisis.
The party said it plans to fund its £111m-a-year proposals by abolishing the non-dom tax status.
Data published by NHS Digital last year revealed 18.1 million adults in England were seen by an NHS dentist in the 24 months leading up to June 2023 compared with 21.9 million in June 2019.
File photo: According to the NHS, babies’ bottom teeth are the first to arrive, usually at around five-to-seven months— (Getty)
In July a report by the Health and Social Care Committee said more people were pulling out their own teeth at home as they could not access NHS services.
“People are finding it impossible to get an NHS dentist when they need one, with appalling consequences,” Labour leader Keir Starmer said.
“Horror stories of DIY dentistry are too frequent,” he added.
Tooth decay is largely preventable but is still a serious problem among young children.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities oral health survey of 5-year-old children in 2022 and Public Health England’s oral health survey of three-year-old children 2020 found that nearly a quarter of 5-year-olds have tooth decay, affecting three to four teeth on average.
Children from more deprived backgrounds are more likely to have tooth decay and 11 per cent of three-year-olds in England have visible tooth decay, affecting three teeth on average
Dentists have backed Labour’s plan, saying it would ease the immediate crisis and “set NHS dentistry on the path to recovery in the long-term.”
But teachers have “serious reservations” about the policy and questioned whether it should be down to educators to ensure that children were brushing their teeth every day.
The Department for Health and Social Care previously said the number of children seen by NHS dentists was rising and that £3bn was being invested in preventative measures to improve children’s oral health annually.
