TEENAGERS in parts of East Lancashire have twice as many rotten teeth as they did five years ago - placing them among the most decayed in the country.

Now health experts are calling on them to cut back on the sweet stuff in a bid to improve their oral health.

New figures from the British Association of Community Dentistry have revealed that the average 14-year-old in the area has up to 1.25 decayed teeth, compared to 0.70 in 1999.

The newly published 2003 figures show the national average is 0.56 and just four areas in the country - Leeds, Knowsley, Birkenhead and Gwent - returned worse results.

Experts say that until 1997, teenagers' teeth were slowly getting better, but have since deteriorated since NHS dentists began going private, leaving thousands without anywhere to get a check-up.

The new figures come after a recent study revealed the average East Lancashire five year old had three decayed, missing or filled teeth - compared with a national average of one - due to poor diet in the traditionally low wage area.

Plans are in place to improve access to dentists, with around 70,000 new places being created across the area to replace the NHS places lost as dentists went private over the past few years.

Just 52 per cent of children and 41 per cent of adults in East Lancashire are registered with an NHS dentist, compared with nearer 65per cent in the early 1990s.

The average Blackburn with Darwen child has 1.25 decayed teeth compared with an East Lancashire average of 0.70 in 1999.

In the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale area, each child had 0.95 decayed teeth and in Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, the average 14-year-old currently has 1.07 decayed teeth.

Dr Gary Whittle, consultant in dental public health for the East Lancashire Public Health Network, said: "Considerable inequalities exist between the three East Lancashire areas with Blackburn with Darwen 14-year-olds having much poorer dental health than similar children in the other Primary Care Trusts.

"We are working to provide more NHS places with new dentists arriving and existing dentists signing new contracts to take on new patients, but there are steps which other people can take.

"Simple things like cleaning teeth twice a day and cutting down the amount of food and drink heavy with drinks and confectionery. If people did that, it would be a major step forward in tackling the problem."

In Blackburn with Darwen, the council has included improving dental health in children as a target in its new public service agreement with the Government. It stands to get up to £400,000 extra if it meets the target.

Classes are already held for primary school children to show them how to clean their teeth after a survey showed up to half did not have a toothbrush at home.

Health Secretary John Reid has promised to look at proposals for a new medical and dental school for Cumbria and Lancashire in a bid to ease the shortages of doctors and dentists in the area.

The idea was put to him at Health Questions in the Commons by Pendle MP Gordon Prentice.

Mr Prentice said: "The evidence is that doctors and dentists tend to stay where they were first trained. We need to grow our own doctors and dentists so they then take root in East Lancashire and flourish to the benefit of patients."

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: "These figures show the damage the government has caused by neglecting dentistry and allowing dentists to go private. Teenagers need to be taught how to healthy lives, and I think teaching them to cook should be a compulsory part of that."