Professor Helen Rodd shares her expertise on BBC Panorama
16 July 2024
Professor Helen Rodd, Professor of Paediatric Dentistry, has featured on BBC Panorama in a special report about paediatric health.
Professor Helen Rodd, Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry at Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, told BBC Panorama about the tooth decay she sees in young children she cares for as part of a special report looking at a decline in the health of children. The piece aired on BBC last night (Monday 15 July 2024).
Helen, who has worked in the paediatric dentistry clinic at Charles Clifford Dental Hospital for 32 years with amazing colleagues, was invited to participate in the progamme as an expert in her field.
Helen spoke about how the oral health, behavioural and social needs of patients referred to the specialist dental hospital - who are trained to look after patients with complex medical needs - are getting more and more challenging, in terms of both sheer numbers and complexity.
Speaking on Panorama, she recalls the moment she had to extract 18 teeth from a three-year-old child: "I saw a child who was three who was having 18 teeth out - they have 20 baby teeth so they were left with only two. That's an extreme example but it's not an exceptional case.
"We see that from time to time. I find it really upsetting that there are children who have such awful teeth. It's going to impact on them now while they are having pain, sleepless nights, not being able to eat, not being able to socialise, missing school, but it's also going to impact on them throughout their life course. That burden of disease goes with you. Children who have decay at a younger age are two to three times more likely to have decay in their adult teeth."
The programme also highlighted city-wide efforts to improve children’s oral health in Sheffield.
Watch BBC Panorama's Britain’s Child Health Crisis now (available for the next 11 months from 15 July 2024) on https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00215yf
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