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Children's teeth brushing lessons to fight decay

Mark Norman/BBC Pupils at The Oaks Infant School in Sittingbourne hold up their toothbrushes, given to them as part of the schools supervised teeth brushing schemeMark Norman/BBC
Pupils at The Oaks Infant School in Sittingbourne clean their teeth at school after every lunch break

Children in some of the most deprived parts of Kent are being given supervised teeth brushing sessions at school.

An oral health survey of Kent school children in 2023 revealed a quarter of five year olds already had tooth decay, the Kent Community Health Foundation Trust (KCHFT) said.

Tooth decay is the leading cause of hospital admission nationally for children aged five to nine, with 30,000 rotten teeth removed from children in hospitals in 2022/23.

KCHFT advanced oral health practitioner, Joanne Downs, said "The children learn from each other, it really is the best way to help support them with their oral health."

KCHFT and Kent County Council (KCC) piloted the free school programme in Thanet, Swale, Dartford and Gravesham.

Tooth decay is a preventable disease caused by too much sugar in the diet and poor toothbrushing.

It can cause pain, stop children from eating, speaking, sleeping and so distract them from learning properly at school.

Mark Norman/BBC Young children sitting in class and brushing their teeth after lunch.Mark Norman/BBC
Children brush their teeth at school after every lunch break

At The Oaks infant school in Sittingbourne, children brush with the guidance of their teacher for two minutes with a fluoride toothpaste to help make their teeth stronger.

The kit is provided to the school free of charge with each child given their own brush.

Karen O’Connor, early years lead at the school, said: “Some parents aren’t doing this at home so that’s part of our job to fill those gaps, to make sure everybody is having the same opportunities to have good oral health."

Supervised toothbrushing programmes have shown they "dramatically reduce the decay rates in children", according to Ms Downs.

"In an environment like schools the children can learn from each other and it really is the best way to help support them with their oral health."

Prime Minister Kier Starmer has stated he is an advocate for supervised teeth brushing in schools and before the election promised to create 100,000 extra dental appointments for children, in a bid to clear backlogs in England.

A recent national survey found year 6 school children living in the most deprived areas of the country were more than twice as likely to have experience of tooth decay (23%) as those living in the least deprived areas (10%)

Schools in Kent are being invited to appoint an oral health champion in their team who can then benefit from this scheme.

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