Guernsey Press

Super Smiles brushes up on tooth decay help for children

MORE than 400 children have had operations under general anaesthetic over the past five years because of severe tooth decay.

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All smiles for photographer Peter Frankland in promoting the Guernsey Super Smiles pre-school tooth brushing programme, which aims to reduce tooth decay, are Kiara Forrest, 4, Helen Long, oral health educator at the Children’s Dental Service, and Alena Allison, 4. (20379970)

Pre-schools and nurseries are now working with the Children’s Dental Service to reduce the problem.

The Guernsey Super Smiles programme has been extended following a successful pilot with the island’s supported pre-schools in 2014.

‘We developed a supervised tooth brushing programme using fluoride toothpaste and trialled it in some of our pre-schools during 2014 and 2015,’ said Sarah Lyle, head of the Children’s Dental Service.

‘Over the last five years the Children’s Dental Service has undertaken around 450 general anaesthetics for children with the most severe levels of dental decay. This is in addition to completing approximately 9,600 extractions or fillings.

‘Research tells us that brushing at least twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste can help prevent tooth decay and the evidence from our trial, although it only involved small numbers, certainly proved to be positive.

‘If we can teach our pre-school children and their parents the importance and value of good tooth brushing at an early age, then this really can have a positive impact on their dental health for the rest of their lives,’ said Ruth Sharp, early years lead for Education Services.

‘At the moment we are working with pre-schools who have volunteered to be part of the scheme but we believe all our children deserve to have healthy teeth and a happy smile and so would love to offer the Super Smiles programme to more of our three and four year olds.

‘Any potential sponsors are welcome to contact me or the Children’s Dental Service to offer their support. We are only looking for around £5,000, which seems such a small amount for the positive impact we know the programme can have,’ she said.

Full story in today's Guernsey Press