I don’t think any dentist would be surprised at The Argus headlines about the deteriorating oral health in children.

Combating decay requires either well-disciplined reg-imes of oral hygiene and diet or a fluoridated water supply from birth, or preferably both.

Now I know all the anti- fluoridationists will be jumping up and down with rage, but the fact is this country does not generally have a well-disciplined young population at present.

The ideal alternative of taking fluoride drops and tablets, which simply mimic the effect of fluoride in drinking water, requires daily attention to detail over a long period.

Most people will have read about the increasing worries about obesity in children for example.

Many of the causes of that also relate to decay. Poor diet, excessive sugary foods, snacking on these at frequent intervals, etc.

And let’s be honest, how good is a very young child’s oral hygiene going to be? It is not that easy to do really well.

It is not just the availability of NHS dentistry nor the way in which the changes in the dental contract might affect a dentist’s choice of treatment they offer. With the possible excep-tion of orthodontics, most patients could look after their own dental health simply by their own actions, without the intervention of a dentist.

Of course, it goes without saying that the dental visits are essential both for advice and to check that all is going well.

But. in theory at least. a patient who is undertaking good daily oral hygiene and not eating a Mars bar every five minutes will probably have little or no decay (and a good line of defence against gum disease).

But with our present national attitude that it is OK to do anything we like just because we like it and nobody better dare tell us any different, then carefully controlled water fluoridation is at least a proven help in the fight against decay.

As things are, I suspect that over the next few years we will see a worsening of this problem.

M Boyask (BDS, retired) New Church Road, Hove