Member Article

Dr Tariq Drabu Debates Sugar Tax in 2016

Dr Tariq Drabu is a leading dentist and specialist oral surgeon based in Manchester in the United Kingdom. He is also one of the youngest dentists to ever graduate in the United Kingdom before working in some of the busiest dental hospitals in the UK and Saudi Arabia. He always showed a passion in oral surgery which resulted in him completing his Fellowship in Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Today Dr Drabu is the owner of the successful Langley Dental Practice and is also the Clinical Lead Dentist for the Oral Surgery Clinical Assessment and Treatment Services at NHS Heywood Middleton and Rochdale. He is also an active mentor and tutor to postgraduate dentists in oral surgery at the UCLAN Dental Clinic in Preston.

Dr Tariq Drabu was speaking about an article published on 14 April 2016 on a top dental news website. The full article can be read here.

Dr Tariq Drabu in Manchester said “The 2016 budget called for sugar drink producers to be taxed based on their production volume. The levy will then be transferred to the consumer and this could bring in around £520 million in revenue per year, which is then to be used for sporting programmes at schools.”

Dr Tariq Drabu went on to say “Some believe that this sugar tax is not going to make any impact on the oral health in children, which has reached critical points with more than one hundred children being hosptialised throughout the country each day to have decayed teeth removed. The levy will be seen as a penalty with the majority of consumers paying it.”

Dr Tariq Drabu closed in saying “We cannot rely on the new sugar tax implementation to make a difference when we have children oral health reaching such dire levels throughout the country. We have to focus on ways to educate children and parents, ensure that they are using good oral health routines and that they are eating a well-balanced and healthy diet while eliminating sugars and acids that could be harmful to oral health moving forward.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tariq Drabu .