Life

Ask the Dentist: Drinks industry has chance to cut sugar dose before tax comes in

Dentist Lucy Stock of Gentle Dental Care in Belfast says the tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, which starts next year, will dramatically cut tooth decay

Have a cola and... rotten teeth
Have a cola and... rotten teeth Have a cola and... rotten teeth

A NEW study has predicted that the tax on sugar-sweetened drinks could reduce tooth decay by 270,000 cases every year.

From 2018 the UK government will be imposing a sugar tax on the soft drinks industry. While drinks such as pure fruit juices and milk-based drinks have been excluded, the rest of the soft drinks industry will be placed into two bands. The first consists of drinks with 5g of sugar per 100ml – they will incur an 18p per litre levy. The second band consists of drinks with more than 8g of sugar per 100ml, which will incur a 24p per litre levy.

This substantial reduction in dental disease would arise if the soft-drinks industry were simply to cut the amount of sugar they add to soft drinks, according to the authors of the study, which was published in The Lancet.

It's unknown how the soft drinks industry will respond to the new government tax, but the authors predict that the greatest health benefits would be achieved from reformulation. The British Dental Association (BDA) believes cutting sugar at source – and before the rot starts – would be a win-win situation for industry and consumers alike, and would help turn the tide on an epidemic of tooth decay.

One in four children are still living with tooth decay. Tooth decay, a preventable disease, is the number one reason children are admitted to hospitals across the UK. This painful and distressing condition causes untold misery including severe pain, sleepless nights and missing out on education from lost days from school.

"Health research shows that sugar-sweetened drinks are a major cause of tooth decay, with some young people consuming the equivalent of bathtub full of these drinks every year.," Mick Armstrong, chairman of the BDA said. "As these contain up to nine teaspoons of sugar per can, cutting back on sugar ought to be a no-brainer.

"The industry could do itself and its customers a favour by putting the brakes on the unacceptably high numbers of children filling up our hospital beds for extractions. At the cost of £834 per child, this would save the NHS hundreds of thousands every year.

"We urgently require industry to play its role in weaning the UK off its addiction to sugar. Industry now has the opportunity to act responsibly and a real reason to cut the dose."