Whole school approach to oral health

I have a child or young person (CYP) who has poor oral health, what can I do?

If you have worries around a CYP's oral health, there are several things you can do to help. There is a flowchart within the oral health padlet which suggests key steps to take, which include:

• Activities at a whole cohort / school / setting level
• Support and signposting for the individual CYP
• Support and signposting for the family

How do we fit a supervised toothbrushing programme into the day?

It is important to recognise how important this intervention can be for some CYP in most need and the 'evidence tells us that brushing each day at school over a two year period is effective for preventing tooth decay and can establish life-long behaviour to promote oral health'.

As part of the programme, toothbrushing should take place just once a day 'at a time which is most suitable for each setting' as recommended in public health guidance.

What about cross contamination linked to storing toothbrushes at our school or setting?

See further guidance regarding infection prevention and control in Public Health England's (PHE) Improving oral health toolkit (publishing.service.gov.uk) on page 12 and in Appendix 7.

Public health guidance outlines that 'quality and safety procedures should be implemented by all settings taking part in supervised toothbrushing programmes. To provide clarity with regard to responsibilities within the programme a model agreement (see Appendix 3 - Example Model Agreement Form in 'Improving oral health' above) between the supervised toothbrushing setting and partners should be agreed.'

We know that vaping can make poor oral health even worse. What can we do if one of our CYP starts to vape?

Please see our separate guidance on vaping linked to a whole school approach including signposting for CYP, as well as step by step guidance on how to respond to a vaping incident.