London based charity, the Dental Wellness Trust is piloting a new LiveSmart oral health screening and varnish programme at two schools in North London to help tackle the capital’s tooth decay crisis amongst disadvantaged children – many of whom have not visited a dentist for over two years due to lockdown restrictions, dental practices being forced to close and children consuming food and drinks packed with excessive sugar.
With figures by the Local Government Association showing nearly 45,000 hospital operations were performed to remove rotten teeth, Dental Wellness Trust will be screening 250 children at Mora Primary School in Cricklewood on February 4 and an additional 50 children at Islamia Primary School in Queen’s Park on February 11, from its fully equipped mobile dental clinic, designed to deliver high quality dental care in hard-to-reach locations. The ambition is for the pilot scheme to be rolled out further across London, reaching children most in need.
In addition to oral health screenings, the charity will be offering (with parent consent) preventative fluoride varnish treatment to help prevent further tooth decay, slow it down, or stop it from getting worse. Fluoride varnish is made with fluoride, a mineral that can strengthen tooth enamel.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Dental Wellness Trust has been expanding its LiveSmart toothbrushing programmes in schools and nurseries, looking after nearly 10,000 children around England with their daily toothbrushing. This new initiative expands their services to include screening and varnish programmes in schools and help refugees and evacuees with their urgent dental care.
The dental health of children in London has been highlighted as a key concern for the capital city. Data from Public Health England has shown that London children are showing a very worrying state of oral health and lagging behind much of the rest of the country.
- Over a quarter (26 per cent) of five-year-olds in London suffer from decay, making it among the worst in England after the North West, Yorkshire and Humber regions
- Those children in London who do have dental decay have an average of 3.7 teeth affected – joint highest rate in the country
- 50 per cent of London children (one million) – have not been seen by a dentist in at least 12 months
- Dental decay is the top reason why six to 10-year-old children are admitted to hospital in London
Linda Greenwall, founder of the Dental Wellness Trust, says, “The current situation is truly shocking. Even before the pandemic, tooth decay amongst children was extremely worrying, but the events of the past two years have exacerbated things massively. So much so, that amongst some of the children that needed fillings, they now needed extractions. The list of emergency appointments is growing by the day as we are scrambling to catch up. Evidence show that delays in preventative care could result in children developing more tooth decay, especially when it starts in childhood, and this is the strongest indicator of risk into adulthood.
“From the work that we do, we know that national strategies such as oral health prevention and toothbrushing programmes in schools and nurseries is one way of supporting this long overdue ‘prevention better than cure’ ethos and we call on the government and local authorities for more urgent funding and support. Tooth decay remains one of the most common non-communicable diseases worldwide yet for too long so many children have suffered unnecessarily.”
Kate Bass, deputy headteacher at Mora Primary School, adds, “As we know, during the pandemic families were forced into isolation, lockdown and social distancing which, in some cases, has had a negative impact on their health. In particular, the disruption to the normal routines of children, such as having to home school, has resulted in their oral health being overlooked – not to mention a disruption to their daily diets and the temptation of sugary foods. This is why we so urgently need these oral health screenings and help prevent tooth decay.”
Visit www.dentalwellnesstrust.org for more information.