Doctor Rob Beaglehole joins Heather du Plessis-Allan to talk about the latest talk around a sugary tax.

More than 20 million dollars is being injected into extracting rotten teeth every year.

The jaw-dropping statistic comes as a petition to introduce a tax on sugary drinks is relaunched.

Beaglehole says his hands are often sore from extracting so many rotting teeth.

He says the majority of cases are kids consuming far too much sugar.

"We're taking out teeth from kids as young as 18 months still in nappies." 

Beaglehole says if someone consumes a litre of fizzy drink a day, cleaning their teeth will do little to prevent them from rotting.