LESS than half the children living in Blackbird Leys regularly go to the dentist despite free check-ups for youngsters, the Oxford Mail has learned.

Around 72 per cent of Oxfordshire’s under 16-year-olds get their teeth checked out every two years.

But a new report by the county’s director of public health has revealed only 46 per cent of children in the Oxford estate saw a dentist regularly.

The NHS study also revealed children on the Leys are more likely to have decayed, missing or filled teeth.

Meanwhile, it has also emerged a mere 44 per cent of youngsters on the Grimsbury estate, in Banbury, regularly got their teeth checked out. The county’s public health chief Jonathan McWilliam has blamed an “inequalities issue” on the poor state of children’s teeth.

The primary care trust report said: “Despite substantial improvements in the oral health of the population in the last 30 years, marked inequalities remain.

“Socially deprived and/or vulnerable groups in society tend to have poorer oral health and poorer access to oral health care services.

“There is further evidence to suggest that, despite high levels of dental need, minority ethnic groups experience barriers to accessing oral health care.”

Dentist Manuel Perez Padron, who is based at Iffley Dental practices, said children were not getting to the dentist regularly.

He said: “It is a problem. And what we do find is that when people come to the dentist, they tend to wait until they have a lot of problems and require a lot of work, so then they get scared about coming back.”

The news comes as a poll released last week by the NHS Information Centre found a fifth of people in the UK had put off treatment because it was too expensive.

But mum-of-five Carmel Ryan, of Balfour Road, said: “There is no reason not take your child to the dentist because treatment is free for under-18s. I think it is really important that dental nurses go into schools, but unfortunately you just do not see them much any more.”

The county’s primary care trust said on average in Oxfordshire children had only 0.86 decayed, missing or filled teeth, compared to 1.11 nationally. But in the Cherwell area it was 1.2 and in Oxford youngsters were found to have 1.32 decayed, missing or filled teeth.

A spokesman said: “These postcode areas also relate to higher levels of extraction of teeth in hospital and there is also high usage of emergency dental services.

“There are other areas of the county that have lower than average usage of the NHS, but these tend to be in the more affluent areas and likely to see a dentist privately.”

NHS dental care is subsidised and free for under 18s. There are three price bands for adults.