ACROSS the south the number of children with tooth decay is soaring.

Recent figures suggest the problem has grown by a staggering ten per cent in just three years.

In Southampton, for example, experts reckon almost one in two children under the age of five have decayed, missing or filled teeth.

Although Southampton has seen the worst rise, the statistics for Hampshire as a whole do not make much better reading, with only two of our regions seeing noticeable decreases.

When all the figures are combined, it shows the startling reality that throughout the county at least one in three youngsters under the age of five suffer from some form of tooth decay, and in places as many as one in two.

These statistics matter because, as with all the topics we have featured over the past four days, tooth decay is a major indicator of health.

Accordingly areas with lower than average oral health for their children often also exhibit lower than average general health and well-being.

A report produced by the NHS's South East Public Health Observatory, notes: "Oral health is an important part of general health and may be defined as the "standard of health of the oral and related tissues which enables an individual to eat, speak and socialise without active disease, discomfort or embarrassment and which contributes to general well-being.

"However, inequalities in oral health exist throughout the region and more than 30 per cent of five-year-old children in the region still experience tooth decay.

"Oral health is linked to socio-economic status with people living in more deprived areas generally having poorer oral health."

So why and how is it important, and how exactly do our local areas fare?

The common diseases affecting teeth include tooth decay, periodontal diseases such as gum disease, the loss of tooth enamel and oral cancers.

The main contributory factors for these diseases, not just in children, range from high sugar diets to smoking, and particularly poor oral hygiene such as not visiting your dentist and or failing to regularly brush your teeth properly.

The upshot of poor dental health can be poor health in general, as these factors are also common to other chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes and even some cancers.

Therefore improving the teeth of children can lead to major improvements in their health by the time they reach adulthood.

The latest figures drawn up by the Department of Health in their Community Health Profiles, dating from 2003/04 show children's tooth decay to be a problem that is still growing.

In Southampton the report suggested that on average each child in the city had at least two teeth that either had tooth decay and needed a filling, or who in the worst cases had the tooth missing entirely.

Elsewhere the county's youngsters fared better, but only just.

In Fareham on average children had 1.2 teeth affected, while the New Forest saw figures of one tooth per child affected, and Winchester and Eastleigh came out best with 0.9 teeth per child.

The figures, though, show that despite the alarming number of youngsters experiencing dental problems, with the exception of Southampton the county's regions are all better off than the national average of around 1.7 teeth per child.

The head of dental health in Hampshire, Stella Saunders, has appealed for parents in the county to help protect their children's teeth, warning that hidden sugars in everything from flavoured crisps to cold meats were seriously damaging young teeth.

She said: "The advice is to restrict the number of times children have sugar in either food or drink.

"We see a lot of children with very thin teeth from drinking cans of fizzy drinks. Really milk and water are the only safe drinks to give them."

But tooth decay among children is just one of the factors in the final part of the series - Health and Ill Health in the Community.

The report also examined other issues facing communities and individuals, and which are seen as good indicators of how well communities are looking after their residents and treating them.

For example mental health treatment, for which Southampton actually scored better than anywhere else in the county.

According to the report, 1,820 people received treatment for mental health issues in the city in 2005 - around 0.7 per cent of the city's population.

In Fareham and Eastleigh just 0.5 per cent received treatment, while Winchester saw 0.6 per cent and the New Forest 0.4 per cent.

The figures put Southampton way above the national average, deemed as a good thing because more people needing treatment are getting it, and significantly above the regional average.

Alcohol related stays in hospital were also assessed, along with drug misuse treatment and levels of diabetes.

However perhaps the most revealing statistics came when a sample of people across the region were asked simply whether they felt in poor health'.

In Southampton more than 18,000 people or roughly eight per cent of the 200,000 population told researchers they felt poorly most of the time.

In the New Forest the figure was 5.5 per cent at 12,000 people, with the same percentage for Eastleigh and just 0.3 per cent less of the population in Fareham.

Winchester also responded highly with 4.5 per cent of residents, 5,715 people, saying they felt ill the majority of the time. So what really do these profiles mean and what do they show.

Dr Bob Coates, the director of Public Health the Mid-Hampshire Primary Care Trust, says his view is that the Community Health Profiles are there to help people help themselves.

He said: "It's very important to start talking to people and to have honest dialogues with them about the issues affecting them.

"Engaging with communities is what matters, because people will only really act on things that matter to them. So if people in a community say they feel in poor health' then you need to identify what is making them feel that way - what in their community is lacking."

Dr Coates added: "It's within our power to make things better, but it's up to everyone to make it work.

"There is a responsibility on the authorities to create an environment in which the individual makes healthy choices and takes control of their own health. The profiles let people see the issues that those in their community say are harming them - but without knowing what these issues are, or how they are improving every year, neither the community itself nor the authorities that provide services, can fix them.