Children with maggot-infested scalps and pre-schoolers with rotting teeth are among the horror stories that are being revealed by New Zealand doctors.
In a bid to address child poverty, paediatricians have opened up about distressing cases that have left them feeling helpless.
"I see rotting teeth when I lift the lip of pre-schoolers...I see matted hair on maggot-infested scalps needing general anaesthetics just to clean and shave, MidCentral DHB paediatrician Dr Jeff Brown said.
He said for paediatricians around the country these horror stories were "business as usual" and it's getting worse.
"It makes me feel sick that I am turning these children away into damp houses just to have them come back in an even worse state."
He said he saw primary school kids growing up in food swamps whose morbid obesity, hypoventilation and metabolic syndromes used to be the domain of adult physicians.