Amid fierce debate about whether a so-called ‘sugar tax’ should be introduced on fizzy drinks, new polls suggest that one million children in the UK have not visited a dentist by the age of eight.

The British Medical Association (BMA) says that advice is not enough and has called for a 20 per cent tax on sugary drinks; a move that has been ruled out by Downing Street.

Official statistics show children and teenagers are already consuming far more than the current recommended allowances, with fizzy and fruit drinks the chief source of added sugar.

Dentists say that too many parents are allowing children to rot their teeth by constant grazing on snacks and sugary drinks, then failing to take them to the dentist.

The survey of 2,000 families found that one in seven, or 14% of children, had not had a check-up by the time they reached the age of eight. In some parts of the country, one in five or 20% of parents had not taken their offspring to the dentist by this point.

The poll by My Dentist, the UK’s largest dental group, found that more than one in ten parents said getting time off work was a barrier to taking their children to the dentist. Families in London were the most likely to say this, with 17% citing it as an obstacle.

Overall, parents in East Anglia were the most likely to have not taken their children to the dentist by the age of eight, compared to 8% in Wales.

Milsted Langdon’s head of Dental Services, David Jacobs, is a member of the National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants & Lawyers (NASDAL), meaning we are able to draw on a wealth of knowledge and expertise from accountants and lawyers around the country who, between them, act for over 5,000 dental clients in the UK. To find out how our specialist accountants for dentists can help you, please contact us.