MP calls for child migrant tooth age checks

A Tory MP who called for tooth tests to check the age of child migrants from Calais has been condemned by dentists.

David Davies called for checks after seeing pictures of the arrival of 14 teenagers from Calais on Monday saying they did not look like children and adding: "I hope British hospitality is not being abused."

Mr Davies, chairman of the Commons Welsh Affairs select committee, demanded mandatory dental checks for child migrants to reassure the public the system was not being exploited.

But the British Dental Association said the checks would be "inappropriate and unethical".

They dispute claims dental radiographs can accurately say if someone has reached 18 years of age.

A spokesman said: "We are vigorously opposed to the use of dental X-rays to determine whether asylum seekers have reached 18.

"It's not only an inaccurate method for assessing age, but it is both inappropriate and unethical to take radiographs of people when there is no health benefit for them.

"X-rays taken for a clinically justified reason must not be used for another purpose without the patient's informed consent, without coercion and in full knowledge of how the radiograph will be used and by whom."

Mr Davies defended his comments saying: "We must not be naive about this. It's no good Lily Allen turning up with
tears in her eyes and all the rest of it - we need to be quite hard-nosed here."

The Monmouth MP told the Radio 4 Today programme: "People are desperate, I understand that, and they will say what they need to
say to get in.

"When I was in the camp in Calais there were caravans with notices on saying 'Come here, we will coach you in what to say to get into the UK'."

He added: "People in Britain, I think, want to help children but we don't want to be taken for a free ride either by people who seem to have got to the front of the queue even though they clearly look, in some cases, a lot older than

Image Caption:A young boy from Afghanistan pushes his bycicle in the mud in the southern part of the camp known as the 

The Government  has pledged to resettle 3,000 refugee children.

The Jungle refugee camp could be closed imminently after a French court rejected an appeal from aid groups to delay the clearance.

French authorities are expected to empty the migrant camp in Calais in the coming weeks and dismantle it by the start of winter.