Hertfordshire councillor suggests sweet packets should have images of decaying teeth
It's as 17 per cent of the county’s five-year-olds have visible tooth decay
Last updated 5th Jun 2025
A leading Hertfordshire county councillor has suggested that sweet packets should include images of decayed teeth, in a bid to improve oral health.
At a meeting of the county council’s public health and community safety cabinet panel yesterday (June 4), councillors heard that 17 per cent of the county’s five-year-olds have visible tooth decay.
And they heard that in the period from 2021/22 to 2023/24 there were 280 hospital admissions of children aged five or under for the treatment of tooth decay.
Among the ongoing activities to improve children’s oral health that were highlighted by public health officials were the distribution of ‘oral health packs’ to under-fives in areas with the poorest oral health and pop-up dental clinics.
And the report also pointed to a targeted primary school oral health screening project, as well as training for a number of schools to provide a supervised tooth brushing programme.
But in response to the “shocking ” report executive member for public health and community safety Cllr Anjanta Hilton (Liberal Democrat) alluded to the link between tooth decay and diet.
And she suggested that images of decaying teeth printed on confectionery packets could be used to deter children from eating too many sweets.
“I sometimes wish we could do the same thing that we’ve done with cigarettes and put decaying teeth on massive sweet packets and popcorn – but that’s more of a lobbying issue I think,” she said.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting Cllr Hilton pointed to the impact images on cigarette packets showing the effect of smoking on the lungs had had.
And she asked why a similar approach could not be used to show the impact of sugary sweets on teeth.
“It’s really shocking that even before their adult teeth have come through they are losing teeth because of decay,” she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“There is clearly a link to foods, to sugary foods. And I think we should be active in showing the outcome if you eat sugar in quantities.
“… We need to intervene in this, like we have done with smoking and with seatbelts.”
Cllr Hilton points to the accessibility of sweets and to the sometimes lower costs of buying over-size bags or multi-packs – even if parents would prefer their children to have a smaller portion.
And after pointing to the need to prevent bad food habits starting at a young age, she said: “I would like not to have as much government intervention. But it’s got to a level where other campaigns aren’t working.”
During the meeting, in response to a question associate director of public health Aideen Dunne acknowledged there had been a “downward trend” in the prevalence of tooth decay in five-year-olds.
She said that since 2007 there had been decrease from 19.2 per cent in the number of five-year-olds with visible dental caries to 16.8.
And she highlighted the cost of living crisis, the obesity epidemic and the affordability of healthy food as factors that would “push against” public health activities.
The report also pointed to links between poor oral health and child obesity – suggesting that many of the “risk factors” are the same.
And following the debate members of the cabinet panel agreed to “champion child obesity and child oral health as important local health priorities”.