Child neglect

NHS figures show it is the most common reason for children in England being admitted to hospital.

Some needed all 20 of their baby teeth removed.

The British Dental Health Foundation said some parents were not paying enough attention to the importance of their child's teeth.

Three years ago 22,574 children aged five to nine were admitted for rotting teeth, but provisional figures for the year beginning April 2013 show they have climbed to 25,812.

Figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show the next biggest cause of hospital admissions among the age group was tonsillitis, with 11,522.

"It is a case of child neglect," Nigel Carter, the chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, told the BBC.

"They're not giving the correct diet, they're getting sugary drinks. There's no attention to their oral hygiene regime and they're failing to take their children along to the dentist when their first teeth come through, and waiting until a child is in pain with a mouthful of rotten teeth."