Rallying cry in support of dental check by one

14 June 2017
Volume 31 · Issue 6

Speaking at the British Dental Association conference, Claire Stevens, a consultant in paediatric dentistry and vice-president of the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry, urged her audience to support BSPD’s campaign to make dental check by one the norm for all children in the UK.

Only 19 per cent of children under the age of two saw a dentist in the last year, she said. She asked her audience of around 1,000 delegates, many of them young dentists, to try and see four additional children under two in the coming year. If all the 22,000 dentists with a contract saw four more under twos, then together they could bring down the number of general anaesthetics for dental extractions.

“This is my rallying cry, asking you to join me in making the dental check by one a reality. Please think how you can make a difference. We need to be innovative and we all need to be working together.”

A dental check by one is recommended in the commissioning guidelines for paediatric dentistry, compiled under the chairmanship of Stephen Fayle but still awaiting publication, and was one of the outcomes of the BSPD stakeholders meeting a year ago when all those present committed to support the campaign.

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