A NINE-year-old Bolton boy is fronting a national campaign to have fluoride added to the North-west water supply.

It is claimed that Callum, whose surname has not been revealed to the media, has so few teeth he refuses to eat outside his home and suffers daily taunts from his schoolmates in the playground.

Campaigners trying to have fluoride added to tapwater say that he, like hundreds of other youngsters in Bolton, suffers extensive tooth decay. And Dr Colwyn Jones, dental health promotion specialist with Wigan and Bolton Health Authority has taken the battle for fluoridation to Westminster.

He said: "I do not find it in the least bit surprising that a child from Bolton, indeed the North-west, has been chosen to highlight the need for our water supply to be fluoridated because the level of tooth decay locally is so high.

"More than 100 studies across the UK have shown that we will halve the rate of decay in the under fives in five years time if we fluoridate the water supply.

"Many people argue against fluoridation but it is a safe and effective measure and one which I and many of my colleagues are urging for," he added.

In London, the National Alliance for Equity in Dental Health called on the Government to extend water fluoridation to areas of greatest need. At a meeting they told ministers that at the age of 2, Callum had 20 beautiful, healthy teeth, but two years later he needed 14 out. By the age of four, Callum's gums were so severely infected that he had to have 14 teeth removed.

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