EXCLUSIVE: A dentist is pleading with parents to stop giving their toddlers sugary drinks like fruit squash as growing numbers of tots suffer tooth extractions

Growing number of tots are having to undergo tooth extractions

A top dentist has described a rise in 18-month-old tots needing rotten teeth pulled as “one big horror story”.

Prof Helen Rodd MBE, 55, pleaded with parents to stop giving their children sugary drinks – even fruit squash.

The University of Sheffield expert, who has 31 years’ experience, said: “There’s been an increase with more extractions of teeth from children under general anaesthetic.

“You will see 18-month-olds having their front teeth out because they’ve just gone to bed with bottles of juice and their teeth are rotten down to the gum.