Teeth cleaning to be taught in nurseries and schools

ayse

I remember when all state primary schools had a nurse and there were school dentists. Health visitors who looked at child welfare, welfare clinics etc. The clinics were not just for people on state benefits.

Whilst costly it certainly looked after the health of UK children.

I’ve no objections to paying towards the health of the younger generation. Reintroduce school milk, orange juice and cod liver oil!

Yes!

My son, aged four, went to a playgroup for a year or so before starting school. From time to time they had a 'special visitor' who would spend half an hour showing the children how to brush their teeth, how to tie their shoelaces, how to wash their hands throughly and properly - not forgetting thumbs! - and similar useful life skills for small people. These interludes always included colourful items - huge 'clown' shoes to practice shoelace tying etc. and often a brightly coloured toothbrush to bring home. DS found this most interesting. Does this happen in nurseries/playgroups today?

If teeth cleaning had been taught in my school at primary level I probably wouldn't have had the pain and discomfort of horrible tooth ache and its associated problems. Especially if we had to have a brush and paste to keep at school and use daily.
By the time I was able to really have the knowledge and get this sorted myself I had a fear of dentists and it was pain that forced me to go.
My parents both had had poor dental health and dentures at an early age and just didn't consider it important.
I was strict about tooth cleaning with my own sons and as adults they have good teeth. I have fillings and crowns that need constant attention.

What about head lice ? Should that be a schools responsibility…Just asking

JaneJudge

I honestly don't see a problem with it being part of the days routine

No, but evidently some parents do see it as a problem.
Increasing the number of children’s dentists is a good idea, but it won’t help if attendance is not obligatory before it is needed to repair damage, and if home dental care isn’t taught and used.

I honestly don't see a problem with it being part of the days routine

We were taught how to brush our teeth back in the 60s, I remember the dentist coming into our school, we were each given a red Colgate mug with brush & paste.
With so much on teeth health today I am surprised there are so many problems with teaching kids how to brush correctly. Mind you we didn’t eat as much rubbish as they do today. I had my first filling in my late 20s

We have to work with how things are, not how we'd like them to be. Ie enough health visitors, school dentists and so on just aren't there. So I welcome an initiative as does SaverSaver9 above.

Of course, it's the parents responsibility, hopefully parent awareness can be linked to it.

I don’t think using breakfast clubs would be teaching the right advice though, because you should wait at least half an hour, preferably an hour, to clean your teeth after eating, as doing it sooner damages the enamel. I found this out because when my daughter was seven she told me she had learned it at school.
A hard hitting advertising campaign on social media would probably have the most effect on parents? Maybe Mumsnet could help promote the messages too.

Actually, this could be part of the government’s free breakfast club time, though the parents would need to supply at least the toothbrushes to avoid the incredible amount of time it would take to hand out individual ones and then ensure no cross contamination.
Looking at the images on TV, it seems the damage has been done before the children even get to school. Encouraging nurseries and preschools to teach the children how to brush their teeth properly, is a good idea.
Sadly, if it became part of the daily preschool or nursery routine, that would just encourage parents who already don’t bother to say “Well they’ll get it done there, so we don’t have to bother.”
Equally sadly they would probably hold nurseries, preschools and schools responsible for the state of their children’s teeth.

Hygienists used to run the PDUs I mentioned above.

Funding would have to be available before you insisted that all dentists took on a reasonable quota of children as NHS patients. It's the funding that is missing.

I appreciate this is a good move , but really !?

I agree with the premise, SaverSaver9 but this is not the job of teachers, or more likely, TAs. How long out of the morning will be spent supervising a class of 30 Infant children in a school cloakroom with possibly 3 washbasins?
Far more appropriate for dental hygienists to conduct sessions, with parents in attendance, and for the government to insist that all dentists have to take a reasonable quota of children as NHS patients .

Does anybody remember the Ivory Castle Club which was started by Gibbs Toothpaste, during the 1960s, in an effort to persuade children to brush regularly and correctly (and to sell more Gibbs Toothpaste).

I remember being given a free, brightly coloured, tooth related comic.

I was born in the early 50’s. My mum, who had poor teeth herself, was not that hot on tooth brushing, but we always went to the dentist and also saw the school dentist, but any fillings were done by our ‘own’ dentist.

As I got a bit older, I started brushing my teeth regularly, but more on my own initiative than mum’s.

Plus we had sugar in our tea as a matter of course.

When I had my own children, I was very particular about their teeth, and supervised teeth cleaning for quite a while. Also fussy about sweets etc.

As for poverty nowadays, well, a toothbrush and a tube of cheap fluoride toothpaste don’t cost much. Tesco’s own brand of the latter is 50p.

Cut down on a can or two of sugary drinks, and they would be paid for.

I don’t agree with teachers parenting it’s not their job
What’s been happening to these children s teeth in the 3/4 or 5 years up to joining school … damage already done in my opinion shutting the stable door and all that
Teach the parents if they need teaching perhaps the nurses at Surgeries should be having regular meetings with new parents beyond the first year of the babies life and these things and others can be observed and acted on during these compulsory appointments (This method could also pick-up child abuse ….another thing poor teachers have been charged with missing)

Hells Bells! Don't teachers have more than enough to do - like actually teaching, for instance? And anyway, the poor buggers are pretty well occupied with changing the nappies and wiping the bums of kiddies whose lazy parents are quite content to adopt the philosophy of "well it's the schools job, innit? It's what we pay taxes for, innit?"

If these Wayne and Waynetta Slobs are capable of producing children but incapable of teaching them the basics then forced adoption is a possible answer. But I suppose that would infringe somebody's Human Rights. Never mind a teacher's Human Rights not to have even more child-rearing responsibilities piled onto them......

Teaching teeth cleaning in nurseries and schools is a great initiative to promote early dental hygiene. It can help instill good habits at a young age, preventing dental issues in the future. By educating children about proper brushing techniques and the importance of oral health, we can contribute to long-term health benefits and raise awareness about the significance of taking care of their teeth.

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I remember when we were told to clean our children's teeth from when they got their first teeth then brush for them for several years (at least 6) at the same time to start teaching them how to brush themselves.

Allira I can remember it being advised for parents to get babies used to a soft brush to massage their gums before they started cutting their teeth.
Also that children needed help up to the age of 8 years, as they don't have the manual dexterity to brush their teeth sufficiently well before that.

eazybee I am inclined to agree.

Toothbrushes can be bought cheaply and it is the brushing technique that matters more than products. They have to start young.

But we have all read about “dental deserts” in this nation whereby even children are now unable to be registered for treatment. This is a new low.

Further more too many of the dentists still offering treatment to some NHS patients- almost as a favour it seems (perhaps one day a week) are taking the @#££.

In and out of the chair in less than a minute for a checkup kerching! Time is money.

I remember when we were told to clean our children's teeth from when they got their first teeth then brush for them for several years (at least 6) at the same time to start teaching them how to brush themselves.

There's as much calcium (if not more) in low fat milk as full fat.

You have forgotten free breakfast clubs and free school meals for all. Only leaves tea, and possibly a baby sitting service to be provided.

I thought that maternal diet during pregnancy could have a determining effect on healthy teeth or otherwise. The trend against full-fat milk could have something to do with it. I now think that my children when young cleaned their teeth rather sketchily but they didn’t have these problems.

There was a time when the way funding for dentists worked actually enabled them to provide Preventative Dental Units to teach children effective teeth cleaning.