Is dental caries neglect?

The recent and widespread media interest highlighting the concerning number of children with poor oral health has, at last, put paediatric dentistry well and truly under the spotlight. Whether on the front page of the Sunday Times (http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Health/Sugar/article1433860.ece), on GDPUK forums or live Twitter feeds as ITV's The Dentists was broadcast, the whole nation has suddenly awoken to the realisation that tens of thousands of children are undergoing multiple dental extractions under general anaesthesia in the UK every year. This is of course, not a new phenomenon, so why the sudden interest?