Children's access to NHS dentists and rates of tooth decay remain very poor despite improvements from national government interventions, oral health experts say. Analysis of the latest government data by the Child of the North initiative gives cause for cautious optimism, they say, but the schemes need to be scaled up and strengthened to meet the needs of young people across the country. The update commends government action taken in the past year to improve children’s oral health, including introduction of a national supervised toothbrushing programme; plans for the expansion of water fluoridation in the North East of England; consultation on the expansion of the soft drinks industry levy; and bans on both the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children and on junk food advertising before 9pm. But it shows that despite these improvements, children living in England’s most deprived communities are still over three times as likely to be admitted to hospital for tooth extractions than those living in more affluent areas. 

Opening all blocked arteries with stents in patients with a heart attack, known as complete revascularization, reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular causes, death from any cause and future heart attacks compared with opening only culprit artery causing the heart attack according to a new, large international study led by researchers at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), a joint organization of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.