Scotland - Oral health effort begins to bite
Oral health effort begins to bite
Published on 13 Jul 2010
Scots and sugar go back a long way.
Clyde-built merchant ships once plied the Atlantic, returning from the West Indies laden with sugar. At one stage there were 16 sugar refineries around the Firth of Clyde. Greenock, where Abram Lyle invented Golden Syrup, was known as Sugaropolis and, after sugar import tariffs were halved in 1874, there was nothing to stop the Scot from indulging his legendary sweet tooth. Sugary treats were treated as a sign of affection. The sweet story has a bitter legacy in chart-topping statistics for dental decay. As recently as 1972, 44% of Scots had no teeth of their own.
At last Scotland has something to smile about. Last month it emerged that the proportion of 11-year-olds with healthy teeth has surpassed the 60% Scottish Government target.
Especially encouraging is that areas with the worst dental records have shown the most dramatic improvement. As The Herald reports today, even in Glasgow, the figure is now up to 58.5%, following a £7m oral hygiene programme.
It demonstrates what can be done when local authorities and the NHS pool efforts and resources to tackle a problem. In response to the Scottish Dental Action Plan of 2005, Glasgow became the first Scottish city to introduce daily toothbrushing in nurseries and P1 and P2. Out went chocolate biscuits and fizzy drinks at snack time in favour of fruit and milk or water. Recently a fluoride varnishing programme was launched, focused on youngsters from the most deprived areas. Such initiatives have the knock-on effect of challenging the lack of awareness and motivation in young parents who themselves grew up with fatalistic attitudes to tooth decay. The forward momentum must be maintained, even in these hard times. It is regrettable that extracting something as entirely avoidable as rotting teeth is still the main reason for Scottish children receiving general anaesthesia.
Big disparities remain in the extent of decay both between social classes and in different areas, with lingering links between poverty and bad teeth. This is partly because cheaper foods tend to have a higher sugar content and partly due to ignorance or indifference.
Foreign families settling in Scotland are still appalled at the sheer quantity of sweets and soft drinks Scots children consume. And, though most parents know the link with oral health, many are still reluctant to control their own children’s intake or restrict it to meal times.
There is still some way to go before twice daily brushing becomes second nature for all children. And, though an impressive 93% of Glasgow children are now registered with a dentist, there is still a shortage of NHS dentists treating children, especially in rural areas. Ideally, babies should be registered with a dentist at birth.
Finally, the issue of water fluoridation must remain on the agenda.
Nothing would make more difference to Scottish oral health statistics. (Children in non-fluoridated Manchester are twice as likely to have tooth decay as those in Birmingham, where fluoride has been added for decades.) Despite recent progress, too many children continue to embark in babyhood on a lifelong journey to deteriorating oral health
Published on 13 Jul 2010
Scots and sugar go back a long way.
Clyde-built merchant ships once plied the Atlantic, returning from the West Indies laden with sugar. At one stage there were 16 sugar refineries around the Firth of Clyde. Greenock, where Abram Lyle invented Golden Syrup, was known as Sugaropolis and, after sugar import tariffs were halved in 1874, there was nothing to stop the Scot from indulging his legendary sweet tooth. Sugary treats were treated as a sign of affection. The sweet story has a bitter legacy in chart-topping statistics for dental decay. As recently as 1972, 44% of Scots had no teeth of their own.
At last Scotland has something to smile about. Last month it emerged that the proportion of 11-year-olds with healthy teeth has surpassed the 60% Scottish Government target.
Especially encouraging is that areas with the worst dental records have shown the most dramatic improvement. As The Herald reports today, even in Glasgow, the figure is now up to 58.5%, following a £7m oral hygiene programme.
It demonstrates what can be done when local authorities and the NHS pool efforts and resources to tackle a problem. In response to the Scottish Dental Action Plan of 2005, Glasgow became the first Scottish city to introduce daily toothbrushing in nurseries and P1 and P2. Out went chocolate biscuits and fizzy drinks at snack time in favour of fruit and milk or water. Recently a fluoride varnishing programme was launched, focused on youngsters from the most deprived areas. Such initiatives have the knock-on effect of challenging the lack of awareness and motivation in young parents who themselves grew up with fatalistic attitudes to tooth decay. The forward momentum must be maintained, even in these hard times. It is regrettable that extracting something as entirely avoidable as rotting teeth is still the main reason for Scottish children receiving general anaesthesia.
Big disparities remain in the extent of decay both between social classes and in different areas, with lingering links between poverty and bad teeth. This is partly because cheaper foods tend to have a higher sugar content and partly due to ignorance or indifference.
Foreign families settling in Scotland are still appalled at the sheer quantity of sweets and soft drinks Scots children consume. And, though most parents know the link with oral health, many are still reluctant to control their own children’s intake or restrict it to meal times.
There is still some way to go before twice daily brushing becomes second nature for all children. And, though an impressive 93% of Glasgow children are now registered with a dentist, there is still a shortage of NHS dentists treating children, especially in rural areas. Ideally, babies should be registered with a dentist at birth.
Finally, the issue of water fluoridation must remain on the agenda.
Nothing would make more difference to Scottish oral health statistics. (Children in non-fluoridated Manchester are twice as likely to have tooth decay as those in Birmingham, where fluoride has been added for decades.) Despite recent progress, too many children continue to embark in babyhood on a lifelong journey to deteriorating oral health
posted by Bill at
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