Teeth cleaning to be taught in nurseries and schools

I’ve just read the guidance.

There are enormous staffing implications. I reckon with 30 children in a class you would need an extra member of staff for at least two hours every morning to carry out all the requirements. Plus extra hours for all the paperwork and training involved.
Extra money and space also needed for the hygiene and storage requirements such as a designated cupboard in which every toothbrush must be stored upright and at a distance from every other toothbrush! No covers allowed.

Unless all this is provided I think this is either a non-starter or the requirements will be fudged -with settings taking infection risks and the cleaning being a token exercise.

Much like other “initiatives” of the past that were conceived in isolation from the reality of work in early years settings.

Fairislecable

Reported

This thread is 1 year 4 months old.

What has offended you so much you wanted to report it?

It would have made more sense for the government to insist all dentists saw child patients for free, but it is far easier to bully schools than the private sector. I think some of the responsibility lies with the dearth of NHS dentists, far too much sugar, and lack of parental responsibility.
No doubt it will be inspected by Ofsted.

How lovely if parents were to be inspected also and benefits withdrawn until children were cared for properly.

When I started teaching in secondary school in the 80s we taught teeth cleaning. Each child was given a new toothbrush and a disclosing tablet so they could see exactly where they weren’t brushing.

Reported

V3ra

www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-oral-health-supervised-tooth-brushing-programme-toolkit/commissioning-and-delivering-supervised-toothbrushing-schemes-in-early-years-and-school-settings

This document has arrived today.
Lots of very specific instructions.

Fascinating.
there should be support and training available for staff to deliver the scheme, including infection prevention and control procedures. Training should be recorded and monitored.

Permission or consent must be sought from parents or carers for their children to take part in the scheme and records are maintained.

No mention of training for the parents-who are actually the people who should be responsible for their children’s oral health.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-oral-health-supervised-tooth-brushing-programme-toolkit/commissioning-and-delivering-supervised-toothbrushing-schemes-in-early-years-and-school-settings

This document has arrived today.
Lots of very specific instructions.

We have a dental nurse who comes into school to see the KS1 children, who all go home with toothpaste and a toothbrush.

Genetics plays a big part in tooth problems, as does prolonged bottle use and giving a bottle in bed at bedtime and leaving it there.

Rosie51

lixy were disclosing tablets withdrawn on cost or health reasons? We used them occasionally with our children when they were young but cleaning their teeth independently. Always after they had 'brushed properly' and on a random basis. Kept them on their toes for a while after each use
after each time.

They were withdrawn in my school because they came under the medical heading and we weren’t allowed to give children medicines in school without a direct letter from a doctor.

If a child was on antibiotics four times a day a parent would come for the midday dose unless we had such a doctor’s letter.

Disclosing tablets are widely available from pharmacies so not harmful I hope.
It does take ages to brush away the colouration though so, like Rosie51, I used them sparingly at home - certainly not in the morning before school!!

This isn’t a new idea. We had brush buses in school when I was teaching. Usually there would be a launch where a visitor did a talk and demonstrated technique etc.
Had to Google but the Brush Bus co was established in 2008. The bus is a plastic container to house the individual brushes hygienically and safely.
Not sure how much has gone on post pandemic.
As people have said oral hygiene is part of the PSHE curriculum.

Why are there no school dentists anymore ? They used to employed by the Local Authority 60 or so years ago

Infant and primary schools have been teaching about healthy eating, cleaning teeth, getting exercise etc. for decades - it is nothing new and is just part of the standard curriculum.

ignore 'after each time' I thought I edited

lixy were disclosing tablets withdrawn on cost or health reasons? We used them occasionally with our children when they were young but cleaning their teeth independently. Always after they had 'brushed properly' and on a random basis. Kept them on their toes for a while after each use
after each time.

Dental health is still part of the curriculum, but by the time it is taught in EYFS, and revisited in later years, it seems it’s already too late.

Labradora

I'm struggling to understand which teachers are doing this toothcare work.
We are not discussing the " school nurse" doing this are we ?
If it is the "ordinary" teacher whose job(i;e; the one that they signed up for and are actually paid for) is to........eerrr...... teach,then I'm surprised that we can recruit anyone at all to teach.
As someone else observed , there's the potty training and feeding children..........
Some teachers seem to be unpaid Social Workers as well as the day job.
They probably all do it with a good heart but WTF.

Well ok, but teaching healthy living essentials has been part of the Early Years curriculum since it was introduced. How to make healthy food choices, the importance of drinking water, good hygiene and keeping your body strong are all areas taught by teachers throughout KS 1 and 2.

My infant school had a week each year dedicated to tooth health - assemblies with the school dentist and each child brought in a toothbrush for use after the lunch period. We used disclosing tablets for a few years but then they were withdrawn.

I agree that teachers are asked to do more than humanly possible, but teaching children the basics of good health is nothing new.

Cabbie21

I don’t think anyone is saying it isn’t a good thing, as such. Obviously it is needed, given the high number of children needing dental work in a hospital setting. It is meant to save them the pain and save the NHS money.

It’s a good idea especially at nursery/preschool where it is obviously already a problem.
Though it would be an even better idea if parents could be involved, e.g. reminded at drop off time that the children will be learning to brush their teeth and their dental health will be checked during the process.
Reminding them at pick up time that the tooth care session has taken place and tooth care needs to be done at home too, or maybe, at the risk of offending parents, mentioning any observed problems.

Cossy

LovesBach

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?

Isn’t this a parents role?

I know there’s masses of families in poverty and chaos, but if these parents cannot even manage the absolute basics then frankly I despair!

What would be good would be to re- introduce the “troubled families” (awful name!) and have family support workers working with these families.

I worked, alongside Family Workers, when doing outreach for the DWP, I worked on budgeting and preparing for work and ensuring the right benefits were in payment and the family workers helped with childcare education, ensuring school was attended, worked alongside teachers and health visitors.

It’s not a quick fix and requires time and money.

Of course it is the parents' role - but not every parent behaves responsibly and prepares their child for school - or life. You are obviously well aware of this, and as you say, there are families in 'poverty and chaos' - which must impact so badly on a small child with no skills. The playgroup made this a lighthearted occasional session, no doubt feeling it would reinforce what was taught at home, and help to enlighten children whose parents felt it was everyone else's job. That is not the fault of the child, and although my children could perform all of these basic tasks at a young age, I didn't see any harm in some encouragement from another source.

vegansrock, they were teaching the wrong technique.

I don’t think anyone is saying it isn’t a good thing, as such. Obviously it is needed, given the high number of children needing dental work in a hospital setting. It is meant to save them the pain and save the NHS money.

I have seen teeth brushing undertaken in a few private nurseries, never in a school nursery. It was always grim.

I think the main focus was nurseries and 2-4 year olds rather than schools. I saw a clip of a small group sitting around singing a song and brushing their teeth. They were enjoying it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the idea. In some countries kindergarten children have to take toothbrushes to school and it’s part of the daily routine like hand washing. Education is not just about maths and chemistry it should be about life. If it saves the nhs money and children pain then it’s a good thing.

www.gov.uk/government/news/supervised-toothbrushing-for-children-to-prevent-tooth-decay#:~:text=Early%20years%20providers%20such%20as,way%20of%20achieving%20that%20aim.

Summary: This project is to target children aged 3-5 from 600,000 deprived families. Funding is from the government and Colgate-Palmolive, who are providing 23 million toothbrushes and toothpaste free.

I have yet to see where this is happening or how the deprived families are targeted- presumably by area. Health, including oral health, is already part of the Early Years curriculum, so I am guessing that it is expected that nursery staff and childminders will carry out the super ision, maybe after a training session, in which case I am not clear about the funding. Where and how does the government money get spent?

Kathmaggie

Introduce the toothbrush as early as possible so it becomes familiar and part of a regular daily routine. Perhaps midwives could reinforce the importance. Obviously fewer sweeties!

Exactly, but you’re talking to the converted.

Good idea about midwives or maybe health visitors reinforcing the importance, although when my children were born I saw the midwife once per baby and a health visitor not at all unless we went to the clinic.

Introduce the toothbrush as early as possible so it becomes familiar and part of a regular daily routine. Perhaps midwives could reinforce the importance. Obviously fewer sweeties!