Last week, reports revealed that Liz Truss is planning to reverse the sugar tax – a move that has attracted criticism from all corners of healthcare.
Also known as the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, the tax was introduced in 2018 to tackle childhood obesity. It raises around £300 million a year and has resulted in sugar cuts of up to 30% in certain soft drinks.
We heard from a number of dental professionals and got their take on what this could mean for people’s health.
Jo Kearsley – dentist
I think it’s outrageous to get rid of the sugar tax considering the lack of NHS dental care in many parts of the country because of the pandemic and the broken NHS system. Sugar tax was a way of improving the poor diet of many of the neediest children.
I think we should be putting as much pressure as possible on government to implement fluoridation of the water supply because this would have the biggest impact on the state of the nation’s teeth in the longer term. A fortune would be saved because fewer GA extractions would be needed in children.
The need for many dental procedures would be eliminated. A recent article in the BDJ about the environmental impact of dentistry was very much in favour of fluoridation.
Yasmin Peachey – dental hygienist
This is a serious error of judgment that will cost the health and wellbeing of our most vulnerable members of society. This will not save anyone money, least of all the tax payer.
They need to subsidise healthy food from the sugar tax and put dental health messages on high sugar foods in line with cigarette warnings on the packaging.
I’d also put a tax on chewing gum to cover the cost of its removal from the streets. I could go on…
Dentistry’s top stories
- ‘Give up looking for an appointment’ – investigation reveals ongoing crisis within NHS dentistry
- Dentist jailed for ‘mutilating patients’ from low-income neighbourhoods
- Liz Truss ‘plans to scrap sugar tax’ on soft drinks
- Dentist receives invite to the Queen’s funeral
- Clinical Dentistry Awards 2022 – the finalists.
Cristina Nacher Garcia – dentist
This is an unacceptable move and against the health and safety of the future generations to come.
We must move forward in making the right decisions to preserve the health of a nation, despite the raising cost of living. If Liz take that direction she will not have my support or vote.
Claire Nightingale – dentist
I think Liz Truss’ plans to reverse the sugar tax are a disaster, for all the obvious reasons. Caries alongside lack of access to dental care, obesity, increased risk of diabetes etc.
I find it utterly dispiriting that such significant implementations can be over turned at the whim of a recently elected individual. Health reform should be based in evidence and debated by experts, ahead of change.
Brenda Ampuero – dentist
I think it is so wrong that Liz Truss is planning to change the sugar tax.
At least, with it in place people would think twice in buying things with lot of sugar content, therefore reduce a bit the incidence of caries.
I personally think that the government shouldn’t change direction on a policy that was causing prevention just for the sake of opening markets or appeal more to investors.
The sugar tax was beneficial for the population as it would make people think twice before buying high sugar content on food and drinks. Now with inflation, it should having the same impact. But do you imagine what will happen when it becomes so cheap to buy sugary food? People will buy it even more.
I think a health or dental committee needs to speak out about that fatal mistake.
Michael Mosley – television presenter and author of bestselling books, including The Clever Guts Diet
I think it’s unbelievably sad, I must admit.
In the original plan in 1997, they wanted to halve rates of child obesity from 10% down to five. Since then, they are now running at about 25%.
There were a number of policies in place – they were going to extend sugar tax and put a ban on BOGOF deals.
So all of this was in play and, as far as I can see, all of this is going to be dismantled which I think is profoundly depressing.
We know that some of these things work really well, like the things that changed smoking. When I was a student, half the population smoked, now it’s down to around eight per cent.
And the things that made a big difference were essentially tax on tobacco and banning of advertising, plus the banning of smoking in pubs.
So I think it’s very depressing, and I imagine that if you’re seeing a lot of teeth, you’re going to be seeing a lot more rotten teeth in the future because sugar is bad and sugar is making a comeback.
Follow Dentistry.co.uk on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.
