Tesco will cover the VAT on the children’s oral care range

Tesco covers VAT on children's toothbrushes and toothpaste

Tesco has cut the price of its children’s toothbrush and toothpaste by 20% in a move to help fight tooth decay.

The supermarket has announced that from Monday, October 9, it will be reducing the price of its Pro Formula Steps children’s range.

He says that by paying VAT, the aim is to make it as affordable as possible for families who may be struggling as a result of the cost of living crisis.

The last numbers show that 23.7% of five-year-old children in England had experienced tooth decay. Children living in the most deprived areas of the country were almost three times more likely to have experienced tooth decay (35.1%) than those living in the least deprived areas (13.5%).

Tesco’s head of health campaigns, Oonagh Turnbull, said: “Parents struggling to make ends meet should not have to make the difficult choice between looking after their children’s teeth and doing the weekly grocery.

“Healthy teeth and gums don’t have to be a luxury, which is why we’re making our children’s oral care range as affordable as possible.”

Paying the price

New figures from the Liberal Democrats have shown that more than 4.4 million children in England have not been seen by an NHS dentist in the last 12 months.

The research was commissioned by the House of Commons Library and focused on the 12 months leading up to June 2023. It showed that across the country, 38.7% of children had not received the annual NHS check recommended in the guidelines health service.

Nearly a million of these children were based in the East of England, accounting for half of all children in the area. Norfolk and Waveney had the worst participation rate nationwide. In those regions, only 45% of children have visited an NHS dentist in the past year.

BDA chairman Eddie Crouch said: “Our youngest patients are already paying the price for a crisis created in Westminster.

“These access problems are the result of political choices. Every political party needs to wake up and offer an action plan, otherwise this service will have no future.’

The data do not account for children who may have received dental care privately.


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