More than 36,000 children are admitted to hospital with tooth decay each year and the number is rising, new figures have revealed.
It is now the third most common reason children are admitted to hospital after a rise of 13 per cent over five years, the data obtained by the Conservatives shows.
But Labour's Health Minister Ben Bradshaw accused the Tories of distorting the statistics.
He said the increase was a result of the introduction of a ban on dentists carrying out general anaesthetics, which came into force in 2001.
There were a total of 36,530 admissions in 2006/07 among youngsters aged 16 and under, Health Minister Ann Keen said in a Parliamentary answer.