Dear Editor, The Daily Echo headline (29 Oct.) reported that Southampton children have now been shown to have good teeth.

It's an old trick of the authorities to say that any area they want to fluoridate has 'the worst children's teeth.' Let's see, over the few years that they've said that about Scotland, Sheffield, Doncaster, Portsmouth, Manchester, Southampton, London & Calderdale in Yorkshire.

Either the bottom places in the Dental Health League Table are a major tie, or the authorities are being economical with the truth!

If the government really cared about teeth they would ensure there are enough NHS dentists. There is also a shortage of NHS periodontists (gum specialists). More adult teeth are lost because of gum disease than from tooth decay, yet some areas don't even have one NHS gum specialist. In some places there's over a year's wait for periodontic treatment - by which time teeth can be lost. Gum disease can't be stopped by fluoridation because a main solution is proper tooth hygiene, which people often need to be carefully shown. Best wishes, A. Wills, Ruislip