Supervised toothbrushing programme: Improving oral health for children

CLCH's Oral Health Promotion Service has won an ICB Health Inequalities bid to deliver a supervised toothbrushing programme in Hammersmith and Fulham to help improve oral health outcomes for children.

Nationally, tooth decay is a significant burden on children’s families and on the NHS and is also the leading cause of child hospital admissions. Tooth decay is three times as common in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas.

The supervised toothbrushing programme aims to reach all the state-funded nurseries and schools, especially those in the most deprived areas of Hammersmith and Fulham to help reduce health inequalities. The programme involves training nursery and primary school staff to deliver daily supervised brushing to children (aged 3-4 years old) as evidence suggests that brushing each day at school is an effective measure in preventing tooth decay.

The oral health promotion team organise various training sessions for teachers to equip them with the skills of delivering supervised toothbrushing for children. Information on the importance of toothbrushing is also shared which is then relayed to the children participating in the programme. Our team equips the nurseries with toothbrushes, toothpastes, toothbrush stands, and all necessary resources and equipment. Teachers then help to establish a routine among the children by enabling them to brush their teeth together every morning or after lunch.

Since this programme has launched, the team has provided training in 25 nurseries with over 243 children taking part. In addition, four nurseries have also accepted to take part in the programme and are awaiting training. The oral health promotion team will continue to raise awareness and contact further schools and nurseries to join the programme in the next academic year. 

Simin Rounagh, Clinical Lead for Dental Therapy and Oral Health Promotion said: “Childhood settings such as nurseries and primary schools can provide a supportive, suitable environment for children to participate in a supervised toothbrushing programme. Skills developed at nursery can encourage and support home brushing and therefore establish a life-long behaviour to promote good oral health.

“I am very proud of the team for all their hard work delivering this programme. The training they provide helps to raise awareness on the importance of child oral health and helps to upskill our partners to better support good oral health among children.”