1. TOWER HAMLETS ORAL HEALTH STATUS: EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS:
Institute of Dentistry
Child Oral Health in Tower Hamlets
Romana Alli Ahmer Imtiaz Rebekah Hadley
WHAT IS ORAL HEALTH?
‘’a standard of the oral and related tissues which enables an individual to eat, speak and socialise without disease, pain, discomfort or embarrassment.’’
WHO Definition
TOWER HAMLETS ORAL HEALTH STATUS:
Access: 46.9% in Rise to 50.4% - Average in England is 69.4%
2013: 17.3% Age 3 with tooth decay; 13.6% in London and 11.7% England
3 year old children with early childhood caries was 9.1% compared to 5.3% for London and 3.9% for England
In 2013/14 dental extraction was among the highest cause of hospital admissions for children in London. In Tower Hamlets 469 children were admitted to hospital for dental extractions with 56% in the 5-9 year age group
FIVE YEAR PLAN
Continual oral hygiene training to front line staff – follow the oral health toolkit
Dental visits to schools – send out dental students and dentists to schools
Maintain programmes such as Brushing for Life programme and Healthy Teeth in Schools
Improving access – ensuring special care services are advertised and known about e.g. GP informing patients about availability
Use of common risk factor approach – healthy meals at schools, removal of vending machines, increasing education about healthy eating
EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS:
Brush 2 x day with fluoride toothpaste
Applying fluoride varnishes at least 2 x per year
Encourage the use of fluoride mouthwash
Organise regular supervised use of fluoride mouth rinses for children with special needs or at high risk of dental caries
Support home visits that provide new mothers with advice about breastfeeding and weaning
Ensure that where appropriate dentists cover the molar teeth of children with a resin - based sealant
Implement policies which reduce sugar consumption in children as they may be helpful in preventing tooth decay
CURRENT PROGRAMMES:
Brushing for Life programme - targeting health professionals working with children aged under 5
Healthy Teeth in Schools - a fluoride varnish programme for 3 to 6-year-old children, providing dental prevention intervention and access to primary care services for those with urgent treatment needs
Promoting oral health in faith and cultural groups and organisations
Promoting oral health in schools
Developing a paediatric care pathway in conjunction with Queen Mary and NHS England to increase uptake of services
Training to front line staff
Out of hours urgent dental care
Special care facilities
Source: National Dental Epidemiology Programme for England: oral health survey of five-year-old children 2015
REFERENCES: 1) Public Health England (2014). Oral health survey of 3 year old children 2013 ( 2) Public Health England(2014) Delivering Better Oral Health-an evidence based toolkit for prevention 3) Marinho VC, Worthington HV, Walsh T, Clarkson JE. Fluoride varnishes for preventing dental caries in children and adolescents Cochrane Database Syst Rev Jul 11;7:CD doi:0.1002/ CD pub2