The right toothpaste

A range of recommendations issued by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), which is part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, also recognises the effect social background has on dental health and calls for greater use of individual assessments. 

However, the advice stresses that parents can play the greatest role in preventing tooth decay by ensuring rigid, daily discipline over brushing of their children’s teeth.

The latest SIGN guideline - Dental interventions to prevent caries in children - provides recommendations based on current evidence for best practice in dental interventions to prevent decay in children and young people aged 0-18 years carried out by dental care teams within dental practices in Scotland. 

Tooth decay (also known as dental caries) is a preventable disease, where a build-up of plaque and other bacteria can damage the enamel on teeth.

Dental health in Scotland has shown a steady improvement since the 1980s. The proportion of primary one pupils with no obvious dental decay has risen from 42 per cent in 1988 to 73 per cent in 2013.