Dental Programme Making a Difference in Scotland

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A dental programme that improves dental care for children with special needs, physical disabilities and sensory impairment has been praised by health experts. The scheme, which has already been awarded a national honour, has also been short-listed for an international award.

The Special Smiles Dental Project is a joint venture run by NHS Lanarkshire and Action for Sick Children Scotland and aims to improve standards of oral health among children with disabilities. The scheme was recently awarded the National Oral Health Promotion Group Patron Prize at the group’s annual conference in Manchester. It was also highly commended at a recent event for paediatric dentists in Glasgow.

One of the key features of the programme is the dental playbox. This contains a number of aides designed to educate children about dental visits and prepare them for check-ups. The box contains puppets, videos, games and books and helps children to understand what happens at the dentist and why it is important to visit one on a regular basis.

Dr Albert Yeung, a consultant in dental public health at the health board, collected the award in Manchester. He explained a bit more about the project and how it had become so successful. Children with additional needs and disabilities often experience heightened levels of anxiety when going to the dentist and to address this issue, the board worked with Action for Sick Children Scotland to develop the playbox.

More than twenty schools in Lanarkshire began to participate in the project in 2013/2014 and the results have been very impressive. The proportion of children who said they were worried about going to the dentist fell from 35 percent to 11 percent, while the number of children who said that they felt comfortable seeing a dentist rose from 65 percent to 89 percent.

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