Who is responsible for taking care of children’s teeth?

NotSpaghetti

^the dental service only treats when the problem has already occurred^... no maddyone - a good dental service also instructs and educates.

One can hope, but it wasn’t my experience. My children were given a sticker and a pat on the head, and told to keep on cleaning their teeth.
Unfortunately, if parents are lucky enough to find an NHS dentist these days, the time allowed for examination or treatment is small, and I think dentists don’t really have the time to educate as well.

When I was teaching, we regularly had a dental assistant into school to talk to the children about dental care. We also had toothbrushes in school and children were expected to clean their teeth at school. I was a bit unsure about that because we (the staff) didn’t clean their teeth, the children did it themselves, and we know that children need assistance to clean properly. I also had concerns about hygiene because the brush racks put the brushes fairly close together. Anyway we did as we were asked, but I’ve no idea if we had any impact.

A few months ago Rishi Sunak said the Government were going to make newly qualified dentists work in the NHS for 5 years before they could go private. They are trained using NHS money so it's repaying that, in a way. A fairly simple solution to a shameful problem in a supposedly civilised country but, of course, nothing has happened since Sunak's statement. Starmer is right, for once, it is the Government's fault but they have private dentistry, no doubt.

Actually Sarnia the blame can be laid firmly at the door of many dentists who can make £££’s by treating private patients with a sideline of cosmetic aesthetics.

It doesn’t help those particular parents (and children) that free dental care, even for children, has become sparse.

I agree.
But it’s still the responsibility of parents to ensure their children clean their teeth and restrict sugar.
Large numbers of parents greet their children with the gift of a bag of sweets when picking them up after school.
I was a teacher for over 25 years. I had plenty of time to observe such behaviour.

Maddy what do you think should be done to the parents?

maddyone I regularly pick up GC from primary school (two different schools) and I am shocked at the number of parents who hand over sweets the minute they set eyes on their offspring.

Are parents going to shoulder the blame for not being able to get an appointment for the last couple of years?

As to the sugar issue, I was not allowed sweets or anything but water to drink as a child, and my mum was absolutely fastidious about teeth, but I needed dental treatment at a young age.

Anniebach

Maddy what do you think should be done to the parents?

Education I think Annie.
I now wonder if we did the right thing in having the dental assistant talk to the children when I was teaching. Perhaps they should have been speaking to the parents.

However I was drawing attention to the fact that Keir Starmer was blaming the government. This government have got much wrong, and the running down of NHS dentistry is one of them (although I think it’s the dentists themselves who decide to leave the NHS) but the responsibility of teaching children to clean their teeth is firmly in the hands of the parents.

Children should of course be able to access free NHS dentists (schools are the obvious place) but I doubt the parents who currently don’t look after their children’s teeth would suddenly begin to clean them with fluoride toothpaste twice a day even if they did have accessible free care.

GrannyGravy13

maddyone I regularly pick up GC from primary school (two different schools) and I am shocked at the number of parents who hand over sweets the minute they set eyes on their offspring.

Yep. All the time.
Is that the fault of government too?

It's very much like the cooking from scratch issue.

All very easy with the right support, the means, the knowledge, the physical and mental health being healthy

That is blatantly not the case for some sections of society, for a variety of complex reasons.

The children with bad teeth are generally the offspring of parents with bad teeth. Middle class people berating others for not doing as they do/did with their own children isn’t going to help in any way. Parents and children all need support, education and access to services.
There used to be a school dental service picking up children with bad teeth and treating them, which has now diminished to virtually nothing. There used to be health promotion teams going into schools to teach about the importance of cleaning your teeth, which has now diminished to almost nothing. There used to be guaranteed access to an NHS dentist for all children, which is no longer the case. It’s a very sad situation, and Keir Starmer is right to say that the government have a lot to answer for.

Strangely enough, when I was a dental nurse, one of our most frequent patients was the dishy p.e teacher.
The teeth he had left once he removed his denture were in a terrible state.

Oh dear, oh dear!
No one is 100% right on this, but how virtuous some are!
Not everyone is born equal, whether in wealth or health. Many children do not have perfectly aligned teeth from baby teeth, or jaws etc. This also impacts on the health of teeth.
Parents should be, of course, responsible for teaching their children about good health practices but many fail on some aspects. Oh if only we lived in a perfect world.
However, NHS dentistry is practically dead. Multiple governments are to blame, as are the dentists themselves.
I just feel that the present situation is creating so many problems for the future oral health of our children and a solution should be found for their sake

The crux of all this (as in so many other things) is that there are those who simply do not grasp that some people have not had the same advantages of upbringing (security, love, enough money to live on, good education) as most of us have had. Their approach to life is coloured by their experiences of poverty of expectations, and what seems wholly logical to us is not necessarily so easy for them.

A poorly educated mother who is taking her children back to a small flat, with no garden, with not enough money to make a proper meal or clothe her children well, with the prospect of a violent partner returning at any moment, with insufficient money for the electricity meter for the evening is quite likely to buy a bag of sweets to keep the children quiet - who could blame her? Not I.

SueDonim

Children should of course be able to access free NHS dentists (schools are the obvious place) but I doubt the parents who currently don’t look after their children’s teeth would suddenly begin to clean them with fluoride toothpaste twice a day even if they did have accessible free care.

I agree.
That’s where education comes in.
Perhaps public health advertisements on television might help.
I realise it’s a problem. I’ve known for years because I’ve spent years looking at sweet little people with rows of black teeth. And it upset me.
Maybe there’s a place for bringing back the school dentist and school dental clinic.
But children shouldn’t need to be going into hospital and going through all the risks of general anaesthetics in order to remove rows of black teeth.
I’m afraid it’s a subject that really upsets me.

My dad's side if the family, who were better educated, had ropey teeth.

My mums side had wonderful teeth.

I wrote a week or two ago about my nan using ajax on her teeth, with not a single filling in her head.

Surely dentists are the same as doctors, when they qualify they are both left with huge debt. The idea the government ‘paid’ for their training is not a just one.

Luckygirl
I hope you’re not referring to me.
I was brought up in a working class home and did not enjoy many advantages that more wealthy families enjoyed. My mother was not attentive about teeth cleaning and she should have been. I had a lot of fillings when I was a child. That has effectively ruined my teeth for my adulthood and I have had to have many crowns and implants.

Additionally I worked in schools in impoverished areas in my twenties and later on in my career. I saw many children with rows of blackened teeth. When I was in my twenties, NHS dentistry was freely available, but still children had rotten teeth. Now there is less provision the problem has become worse unsurprisingly. And yet people on here seek to condemn the messenger and not actually think that parents have some responsibility in all this, and how could we educate parents into believing this is important.

Luckygirl
What a good idea, justify the giving of sweets to rot their teeth.
Unbelievable!

I'd imagine there isn't one parent who would say.... "hmmm, tricky question, let me think... erm... is it the government's responsibility?" if asked.

Mayo clinic info.

GERD is causing your enamel loss.
Eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia can lead to a lot of tooth erosion and cavities. Stomach acid from repeated vomiting, called purging, washes over the teeth and begins eating away at the enamel. Eating disorders also can get in the way of saliva production

It also lists not brushing.
The position of your teeth.
The surface of your teeth.
Frequent snacking.
Frequent sipping of drinks, and many more reasons.

Of course it is a problem that so many children have bad teeth, and in a perfect world all parents would be taking on the responsibility for their children's dental health. We don't have a perfect world though. I think Keir Starmer in this instance (and I don't often agree with his priorities).
Bringing back Sure Start might be a good idea. Giving all families a decent wage and secure housing might also be a good idea.

Ilovecheese I'd vote for bringing back SureStart!