Oral Health

[Ellisha]

How are you approaching oral health in terms of parents? Are you sending out information? Talking to them about oral health? I know round here it is impossible for anyone to register with an NHS dentist.

I don't want it to sound like i'm criticising parents for their choices i.e. juice drinking.

[loocyloo]

I put a link to the oral health website on my newsletter and wrote a bit about drinking water, and lowering sugar etc. Except I don't agree with low sugar foods as such, as I'd rather the children and I had real sugar rather than chemicals!

I think there is some info on childcare.co.uk

[Ellisha]

Thanks Loocyloo.

[Pixie dust]

Our LA recently put on some training about oral health, the local community dentistry team did a presentation and the figures for tooth decay in young children was shocking. Where I live we are above the national average. I think they wanted us o sign up to their heathy teeth standards for early years but I have decided against this as they had strict requirements about what food/drink you can serve. I do feel that I actually give the children healthy meals/ drinks and we don't normally have sweets or puddings etc BUT I do bake with the children and if they are here on their birthday we normally have cake which isn't allowed in their standards that you have to meet, you have to use non food related ways to celebrate special occasions. What I have used from the training is there are some dental apps out there for children to use as a timer and make teeth brushing fun so I have shared that with parents and our local area has its own dental community Facebook page which I have shared. We were told that neglecting their children's teeth is a safeguarding issue.

[Mouse]

I added a question to my child record form asking if the child is registered with a dentist and, if not, would parents like advice on finding one. Only one child isn't registered so I sent parents the link to the list of local dentists who are taking on NHS patients. It's a small list and most of the dentists are further away than parents would like, but there's no one really local.

I've also got some info to hand out to the parents of children who have dummies and I'm looking for some info on not giving too many sweets etc. I've got one 2 year old who regularly arrives eating a lollipop and one who drinks squash out of a bottle. I need to tackle those issues in a sensitive way!

[Dragonfly]

Ooh that’s my pet hate squash out of a feeding bottle. I gave all my children a timer and toothbrush last year after a looking after teeth activity.

I’m not happy telling parents what to do/ not to do with their children . I’ll make suggestions if asked. I still cringe at things inside though.

[Mouse]

I’m not happy telling parents what to do/ not to do with their children . I’ll make suggestions if asked. I still cringe at things inside though.

That's what I don't want to do. The child with the bottle of squash has only been here for a couple of months. The week he started his parents separated and he & his mum went to live with his grandparents. A couple of days later the grandma was told she had a terminal illness. The family is facing enough trauma without me pushing for them to get the little boy to give up his dummy and bottle of squash. He's getting better at going without his dummy here and I tip half his squash into a beaker for him to have at lunch time and add water to the rest. As he drinks some I keep adding water until it's pretty much all water. He's not even 2 yet, so there's still time.

[loocyloo]

Our LA recently put on some training about oral health, the local community dentistry team did a presentation and the figures for tooth decay in young children was shocking. Where I live we are above the national average. I think they wanted us o sign up to their heathy teeth standards for early years but I have decided against this as they had strict requirements about what food/drink you can serve. I do feel that I actually give the children healthy meals/ drinks and we don't normally have sweets or puddings etc BUT I do bake with the children and if they are here on their birthday we normally have cake which isn't allowed in their standards that you have to meet, you have to use non food related ways to celebrate special occasions. What I have used from the training is there are some dental apps out there for children to use as a timer and make teeth brushing fun so I have shared that with parents and our local area has its own dental community Facebook page which I have shared. We were told that neglecting their children's teeth is a safeguarding issue.

Ours did that. I'm not signing up!

[Ellisha]

I'd say the nearest NHS dentist taking on here is about 20 miles away. Hopefully if parents are registered with dentists already their children are able to join. I had to join a private dentist here when we moved last year, but my kids are free.

I've posted some information onto my Facebook page and will ask about dentists on my all about me form.

[mumofone]

Has anyone created a standalone form for this?