Teachers will be encouraged to supervise brushing in a bid to reduce rates of decay
Teachers will be encouraged to supervise brushing at school as part of an initiative to reduce rates of childhood decay.
The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, is expected to launch a consultation, outlining a series of measures that will be introduced to try and bring the number of children requiring extractions in hospital down. Health experts are worried that too many children are not brushing their teeth properly, and a supervised brushing scheme could help to ensure that kids are brushing at least once a day.
In England alone, more than 14,500 tooth extractions were performed on children aged 5 and under in 2017/2018. Although there are some supervised schemes in place in nurseries and schools, the programme is set to be expanded to include older children and target more areas.
Mick Armstrong, from the British Dental Association, welcomed the decision to expand brushing schemes, describing the move as a “great leap forward for public health,” but urged the government to ensure that there were no “half-measures.” The NHS is currently spending thousands of pounds on extracting teeth as a result of preventative decay, and investing more in oral health initiatives could help to reduce the number of procedures dramatically.
While dental professionals have backed the scheme, teaching unions are not convinced. Teachers are already under a great deal of pressure, and this is another job that will be added to their workload. Unions have also questioned whether it is a teacher’s responsibility to ensure that a child brushes their teeth.
According to Public Health England, more than 60,000 school days are lost to dental problems each year.
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