Dental Services: Children
Question
Rachael Maskell
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to commission (a) dental surgeons and (b) other professional educators to deliver preventative dental health programmes to children and young people.
Answer
Neil O'BrienThe Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has published an evidence-based toolkit, ‘Delivering Better Oral Health - an evidence-based toolkit for prevention’, for dental teams and other healthcare professionals to support preventive advice and treatment for their patients, including the prevention of tooth decay in children. The toolkit is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/delivering-better-oral-health-an-evidence-based-toolkit-for-prevention.
In England local authorities are responsible for assessing oral health needs, developing oral health strategies, and commissioning oral health improvement programmes for children and adults in their local area. OHID has also published a toolkit for local authorities, ‘Improving oral health: an evidence-informed toolkit for local authorities’, which includes a recommendation for oral health training for the wider professional workforce. This is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-oral-health-an-evidence-informed-toolkit-for-local-authorities