NEW figures on dental waiting times for children have been slammed as "completely unacceptable" by the Labour Party.

A Freedom of Information request by the party has revealed a 15 per cent increase over three years in the number of children on waiting lists for dental operations undertaken under general anaesthesia and a 52 per cent rise in the number of children waiting longer than 6 months for treatment.

According to the figures, under 18s waited on average an extra 15 days for dental operations in 2017 in comparison to 2013.

And last year, children in England waited on average 85 days for treatment under general anaesthesia following a referral.

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, said: “It is completely unacceptable that vulnerable children are increasingly waiting for months in agony to have their teeth fixed."

Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association, said: “The growing number of young children on waiting lists for tooth extractions is symptomatic of government failure to tackle a wholly preventable disease."

Bradford South MP Judith Cummins, who is supporting the Telegraph & Argus's Stop the Rot campaign to improve oral health in Bradford, said: “Far too many children in Bradford are having teeth removed due to dental decay, which is completely preventable.

“It is bad enough that this is happening in the first place, but to see that desperate children are having to wait even longer for operations is shocking but not necessarily surprising, given how overstretched our NHS is.

"These figures will continue to get worse until the government gets to grip with the underlying problem - a lack of NHS dentists, especially in areas like Bradford, and a dental system driven by targets instead of prevention in which patients and dentists lose out.”

Meanwhile, the Department for Health and Social Care, said it is determined to make sure all children get the right access and support to achieve good oral hygiene.

A spokesperson said: "Last year a record 6.9 million children were seen by a dentist, almost 60 per cent of the total population and an increase of 110,000 on the previous year.”