Teeth cleaning to be taught in nurseries and schools

All I f the above I think and perhaps the increased amounts of sugar being added to our food by manufacturers. Do you remember the school dentist?

All the above I guess. I have poor teeth due mainly to them being very bent, despite wearing a brace in my teens for 3+ years following removal of several teeth due to overcrowding. Sadly they all went back to their original bent positions once the brace was removed. This made it difficult to clean in the spaces between them, but back then nobody mentioned the need to pay attention to the spaces, concentrating mainly on the appearance from the front.

As a result I have a mouthful of fillings, have experienced gum soreness and infections, and four other teeth virtually fell out overnight (two on the same night!). Since oral radiotherapy last year another two bit the dust, right at the front. Dismayed I learnt that all those adverts for implants/caps etc don't apply to me cos I have also lost a lot of bone density in the jaw area. The best they can do is have a removeable plate which is currently being made. The NHS don't cover the cost so its £500.

Despite good intentions I doubt if many parents even today realise that cleaning all the gaps and crevaces (sp?) is more important than cleaning the front surface, and massaging of gums equally important.

It is only a few years ago that we were told not to clean immediately after eating, and not to rinse after brushing. And to use flouride toothpaste and mouthwashes. I also have to pay for expensive toothpaste with tons of added flouride that is only available privately.

My children were 'taught' by school 30 odd years ago, my dgs1 was 'taught' at nursery last year. I have no issues with schools ensuring that children know what to do, especially if parents don't. I don't think they should take over brushing teeth every day though. That's up to the parents

A mixture of those things.
Poor diet, regardless of poverty is likely to be a major factor.
Dentists say (on the news tonight) that supervised tooth brushing is the best way to avoid tooth decay.
So that puts the solution, and equally the blame for not doing it firmly in the hands of parents
Maybe fining parents whose children’s teeth have not been cared for would be successful and fund the new initiative.

Oh yes, do let's take money away from parents, that will really help their children.

Ilovecheese

Oh yes, do let's take money away from parents, that will really help their children.

Well not doing it isn’t helping their children is it.
What incentive would you use to make parents accept the responsibility for their children’s dental health?

Compulsory training classes for parents who don’t know how to teach their children to brush their teeth?

More NHS dentists and shorter working hours for parents. Higher wages and lower healthy food prices. Less stressful lives altogether for parents so that had more time to parent.

Lazy parenting is the cause

The children I saw on the tv were being taught incorrectly.

Toilet training in schools and now children to be taught how to clean their teeth!!! What will be next?

I remember when all state primary schools had a nurse and there were school dentists. Health visitors who looked at child welfare, welfare clinics etc. The clinics were not just for people on state benefits.

Whilst costly it certainly looked after the health of UK children.

I’ve no objections to paying towards the health of the younger generation. Reintroduce school milk, orange juice and cod liver oil!

kittylester

The children I saw on the tv were being taught incorrectly.

Can you explain why please

God knows!

But my primary school had visits from the nurse who checked our teeth and declared mine "beautiful". In fact, they were utter crap!

Louisa they were going sideways rather than gum down.

Why is it costing £11 million?

Knowing what some children are like when you try to teach them to do something "properly" it's probably a good idea to have them taught at school. Then they can go home and lecture their parents, which they always enjoy, and hopefully some of the lessons will stick.

I remember I had to have several teeth out when the school dentist came round when I was five. I'd never been to a dentist so the whole thing was terrifying. My mother hadn't got much idea about looking after my teeth, but not all bad teeth are down to neglect. My daughter has always taken care of hers and spends a lot of money, but she has constant problems with them and multiple root canals.

Yep

kittylester

The children I saw on the tv were being taught incorrectly.

Yes, they were scrubbing away but incorrectly!

Perhaps, rather than leaving this to over-pressurised teachers, there needs to be a national campaign.

As well, of course, persuading more dentists to work for the NHS by offering better contracts.

Allira

kittylester

The children I saw on the tv were being taught incorrectly.

Yes, they were scrubbing away but incorrectly!

Perhaps, rather than leaving this to over-pressurised teachers, there needs to be a national campaign.

As well, of course, persuading more dentists to work for the NHS by offering better contracts.

👏🏻👏🏻

Most importantly, teaching parents how to teach their children how to brush their teeth, and how to supervise them while they do it.
We’ve done teeth care sessions in school for ages, but if it’s not supervised at home, the value of that is limited.
Reading posts on here, not everyone knows the correct way to brush, so presumably, some parents will need instruction.
Telling their parents is likely to mean less supervision not more, (Now you know how to do it, so get on with it.)

The only time I’ve found parents responding to being told what to do by there children was during our smoking is dangerous topics.
That certainly brought parents into school, ranting about it not being our place to teach children to tell their parents what is right, or telling us that ^smoking helps me have a good cough to clear my catarrh in the morning!

there children=their children

There was a time when the way funding for dentists worked actually enabled them to provide Preventative Dental Units to teach children effective teeth cleaning.

I thought that maternal diet during pregnancy could have a determining effect on healthy teeth or otherwise. The trend against full-fat milk could have something to do with it. I now think that my children when young cleaned their teeth rather sketchily but they didn’t have these problems.