Get your baby to the dentist by their first birthday, says TV’s Dr Ranj

As an NHS consultant paediatrician who works on the accident and emergency ward, Dr Ranj has first-hand experience of the consequences of dental decay. Sometimes, late at night he will encounter worried parents who have turned up at casualty because their child is screaming and they don’t know why. The problem can be a dental infection or an abscess caused by untreated dental decay.

The video concept was born following research among parents whose children had been referred into hospital with gross dental caries. The research was carried out to understand the best way to deliver preventive advice. Among the findings were that nearly all parents have mobile phones or tablets, their children watch TV programmes like CBeebies and they take advice from celebrities, usually via social media.

When Dr Ranj, the presenter of the CBeebies programme Get Well Soon, was asked by BSPD’s Claire Stevens in 2019 to work on a series of four brief videos for families, he was quick to agree. He could see the value of giving parents advice they could access on their mobiles.