ONE in five three-year-olds in Blackburn suffers from tooth decay according to new report on children’s oral health.

Pendle youngsters fared just as badly, with the Ribble Valley the only East Lancashire borough to record healthier kids’ teeth than the national average.

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The British Dental Health Foundation said “stark regional inequalities” in the findings were “a cause for concern”.

Public Health England (PHE), which carried out clinical examinations on 53,814 three-year-olds, said 11.7 per cent of those had shows signs of tooth decay, including in their incisors.

In the North West, that percentage shot up to 14.3, with Blackburn with Darwen (20.64 per cent), and Pendle (20.26 per cent) among the five boroughs with the worst results.

In Burnley, decay was reported in 18.81 per cent of those studied, Rossendale’s score was 17.71 per cent and Hyndburn’s 17.23 per cent.

Just 3.05 per cent of children in the Ribble Valley were found to have tooth decay, the best results for any North West borough.

Eric Rooney, consultant in Dental Public Health at Cumbria and Lancashire PHE Centre said: “These figures reveal that children in Cumbria and Lancashire have higher levels of tooth decay than in other parts of the country, with the national average being 12 per cent.

“Although there have been advances in the nation’s oral health, there is still a lot of room for improvement especially as tooth decay is a preventable disease.”

The North West was second worst performing region in England, behind only the East Midlands 15.3 per cent.

Dr Nigel Carter OBE, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation claimed the “overall results were encouraging”.

He added: “It is the first time we have seen the progress of oral health development from birth through to starting school.”

But he added: “The stark regional inequalities are a cause for concern.

“They highlight a clear need for water fluoridation to help tackle these differences, particularly in the more deprived areas of the country.”