Children in Northern Ireland brush their teeth for the shortest time on average according to
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Children in Northern Ireland brush their teeth for the shortest time on average according to research by the UK’s largest dental group.

The My Dentist survey of more than 2,000 parents found that kids in the province brush for a mean time of a little over 60 seconds, compared children in the North West who brushed for on average 77 seconds – still well short of the recommended two minutes.

The survey also paints an alarming picture of parental dental knowledge in the UK, with more than one million children under the age of eight having never been to a dentist and more than 700,000 in the same age group having had at least one filling, costing the NHS nearly £22 million.

It also highlighted that 20 per cent thought fruit smoothies were good for their child’s teeth, one in eight believing that fluoride is bad for their child’s teeth and more than 30 per cent were unaware of free NHS treatment available to kids, such as fluoride varnishing.