Provision of Oral Health Improvement: Supervised Toothbrushing Programme in Primary Schools

Description

The Supervised tooth brushing programme is aimed at children attending primary schools in
areas of deprivation, experiencing poorer oral health. The tooth brushing activity will take
place in the school setting they attend. The main aims of the programme are to reduce the
prevalence of tooth decay, hospital admissions for dental caries and reduce health
inequalities in children. The objectives and related outcomes are: To develop healthy habits
from a very young age (life course approach), To increase children’s willingness to brush
their teeth, To improve children’s toothbrushing technique, To encourage daily application of
fluoride toothpaste to teeth which reduces the incidence and severity of tooth decay in
children, To encourage support for home brushing, To establish life-long behaviour in
children to promote oral health, To reduce the negative impact of poor oral health, To
increase and promote intergenerational understanding of good oral health to children &
families, To provide quality information, advice and training to school staff, To increase
community resilience and improve understanding and ownership of personal health and
wellbeing from a very young age, To increase awareness on healthy eating and sugar
consumption in food & drinks, To prevent childhood overweight and obesity, To develop links
with other local services and organisations to provide an integrated approach to oral health
provision. (see service specification for more details).