THE recent headlines that 12 per cent of three-year-olds across England have decaying teeth has already brought calls for fluoridation to be extended further.

Yet there is no evidence to demonstrate that adding fluoride to drinking water will prevent young children developing tooth decay.

While ten per cent of three year old children in Southampton have tooth decay, in fluoridated Wolverhampton the figure is 15 per cent.

There is a solution. In Scotland the universal ChildSmile scheme has dramatically reduced dental decay through a community based scheme that provides preschool children with a simple daily supervised tooth brushing regime with extra support for children and their families, who have the worst decay.

The scheme is highly successful but not only is the scheme effective, it tackles issues such as diet and nutrition and it is less costly.

ChildSmile, which covers the whole of Scotland, costs £1.8 million a year and has been shown to save over £6 million in treatment costs.

Yet to fluoridate the West Midlands alone costs over £2million plus the associated capital costs. With restricted budgets it seems obvious which approach makes most sense.

PROFESSOR STEPHEN PECKHAM, Canterbury.