A young schoolboy was left crying in agony after his front tooth was ripped out as he slid down a children's slide.

Denis-Cristian Bulancea, 12, was playing with two friends in the sandpit at Beachfields, Sheerness, when his tooth was caught by a screw on Swale council's castle slide.

Warning: Graphic images

His distraught dad Dumitru-Daniel Bulancea said: "Due to the curves, he was rolled and caught the tooth in one of the screws.

"None of the screws are flush with the slide, all of them are proud by a few millimetres. Many of the children have also complained of getting electric shocks when they touch the screws."

Denis, with blood pouring from his mouth, ran to the nearby McDonald's restaurant where his dad works as a delivery driver, with his friends for help.

His father said: "The staff called me back from a delivery and helped him until I arrived. His friends returned to look for the tooth, which had been pulled from his gum, and found it in the sand."

He drove his son to Medway Hospital's accident and emergency centre but as there was no dentist on duty, the pair were forced to dash to Kent and Canterbury Hospital at Canterbury 30 miles away where Denis underwent emergency surgery to put the tooth back in position.

His dad said: "We are hoping it will catch."

Denis, who goes to the Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey school in Sheerness, said: "I was going down feet first but the ride twists you to the right and left.

"As I went down, a screw caught my tooth and pulled it out. I was in a lot of pain but my friends and McDonald's staff were really good and so were the staff at Canterbury."

He is now on painkillers, can't eat any solid foods for at least 10 days while it is hoped his tooth will 'take' and has to drink through a straw.

The accident happened at 6.45pm on Saturday (Sept 24). Denis, who was born in Romania, was with his friends Robert Buzdugan from Moldova and Polish Pawel Dobrovka.

Mr Bulancea, who lives in Plough Lane, Minster, added: "I am aware that the council spent money on the development of the park but it should have bought safe things for our children."

It is not the first time the controversial £50,000 slide has made headlines. It was shut a week after it opened in 2019 following an avalanche of injuries.

Shortly after it reopened after extensive modifications, Jordan Spilsbury needed emergency surgery at East Grinstead Hospital when he slipped and gashed his head.

Hi mum Tasha Spilbury said at the time: "This wasn't just a bump on the slide. He was scalped."

The slide replaced a pirates ship climbing frame which had been at the sandpit for 33 years.

A council spokesman said: "We haven’t yet seen a report about an accident at the play area, so we’d ask the people concerned to please get in touch.

"The play area is inspected weekly by fully qualified staff members and is also visited quarterly by an external inspector and annually for an insurance inspection. In three years, none of these have raised any safety issues.

“We have only had one reported accident here since modifications were made in 2019 and the subsequent investigation found this was down to misuse."

He added: “This is a popular park play area for families and is well-used by the community. We work hard to make sure our play areas are safe but the reality of play is that there is always an element of risk.”