The next challenge

Childsmile was established to improve the oral health of children in Scotland and Professor Macpherson is a Co-Director.  Having outlined their achievements, she made it clear that no one was resting on their laurels. She said: “A strategic review of Childsmile is underway to further refine the programme with a particular focus on reducing health inequalities.”

Professor Macpherson told the press conference, jointly hosted by Colgate and the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry (IAPD) 2015, that they were committed to a wide, multi-disciplinary approach for child dental health improvement. “What’s needed now is further work at national and local community levels to support families and reduce the inequalities both in dental health and access to dental services.”

Childsmile has involved a change to the primary care dental contract in Scotland to promote preventive care for children, provide support to families via community-based support workers, and tooth brushing programmes across Scotland in nursery and primary schools. Additionally, fluoride varnish has been successfully used as part of the programme - with over 300,000 applications of varnish in the past year.