Nearly 500 children a week are being admitted to hospital with rotten teeth, NHS figures show. It is now the main reason for youngsters needing hospital treatment and dentists say the main culprits are fruit juice and fizzy drinks. Most children need between four and eight of their baby teeth extracted, although some are having all 20 taken out. Figures also show that more than a quarter of five-year-olds have some degree of tooth decay and in some areas of England it is well over a third. Only last month new NHS guidelines urged the public to slash sugar intake to as little as five teaspoons a day, due to concerns that it is to blame for rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Experts are also worried that sugar is behind an increase in tooth decay in children and could affect their ability to learn.