Oral health in early years settings

Good oral health is an important part of every child's wellbeing. Poor oral health affects their ability to eat, sleep, speak, play, socialise with confidence and concentrate at school. It can also lead to pain, infection, poor diet, and impaired nutrition and growth. Large numbers of young children have teeth extracted under general anaesthesia in hospital because of dental decay.

Children may miss school and parents have to take time off work for their child to attend the dentist or be admitted to hospital. Good oral health contributes to school readiness and prevents school absence. Oral health is an integral to our overall health, when children are not healthy, this affects their ability to learn, thrive and develop.

Poor oral health is preventable!

Early years settings can help raise awareness of good oral health and support children and families to practice this while at home by:

having a 'tooth friendly' food and snack policy, limiting sugary snacks and providing water and milk in preference to sugary and acidic drinks
promoting good oral health practices such as, tooth brushing (at least twice daily, for 2 minutes, with a fluoride toothpaste from the point of a first tooth erupting), limiting sugar, and visiting the dentist
training staff to give consistent oral health messages to children and their families
promote oral health awareness days such as National Smile Month and World Oral Health Day
working with external partners and agencies including dentists
accessing available training and resources
being part of the Supervised Tooth brushing scheme if you are in an eligible setting
accessing resources such as toothbrushes and toothpaste and provide these to families in need (toothbrush packs can be accessed through Family Hubs)
encouraging oral health practices at home by showing it can be made fun and part of a daily routine

Oral health messages

Children should:

brush at least twice daily, for 2 minutes, with a fluoride toothpaste
visit a dentist after their first milk tooth erupts
be registered with a dentist
after brushing, children should not rinse their mouths with water, but should spit out are excess toothpaste, as the fluoride will not work as well if rinsed
brush last thing at night before bed, and on one other occasion throughout the day.
be supervised and/or assisted with tooth brushing.
use free flowing cups from 6 months old.
avoid using dummies after 12 months old

Training and resources

Training

Elearning for Healthcare: dental health promotion: this course aims to improve knowledge and skills around oral health and poor oral health and promotes oral health in infants and young child

Resources

National Day Nurseries Association: oral health in early years

Oral health resource box for schools and nurseries

NHS Durham and Darlington offer oral health resource box loans for Early Years and KS1 age groups, to help support the topic of oral hygiene, which is included in the Early Years Framework. Items include models, puppets, role play equipment, puzzles and books. For further information please call 0191 3876504 or email cdda-tr.oralhealthpromotion@nhs.net.

Useful web pages

Contact early years

Email eywfd@durham.gov.uk
Telephone 03000 268 917