UK - How children in Salford are brushing away bad dental care with teeth hygiene lessons

Some children wait up to a year for dental treatment, so now they're being taught the best ways to keep their teeth clean and healthy

In a region where hundreds of children face waiting up to a YEAR to have teeth removed, a Salford school have been brushing up on lessons in tooth care.

Pupils at Peel Hall Community Primary in Little Hulton are among 3,000 schools, in areas worst affected by child tooth decay, to be given dental education packs.

In Manchester, 25.6 per cent of three year olds have experienced tooth decay - one of the highest rates in the country.

Tooth decay is now the main reason that five to nine-year-olds are admitted to hospital for general anaesthetics in the UK.

Dental disease also costs the NHS £3.4billion each year, yet is preventable with these simple actions:

• Brushing for two minutes twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste.
• Cutting down on sugary foods and drinks.
• Visiting the dentist regularly.

The Wrigley Company has teamed up with the Co-op Food and the Oral Health Foundation to bring oral health awareness into primary schools.

This week the MEN revealed 300 children face waiting up to a YEAR to have teeth removed in hospital because of a severe nursing shortage.

Pennine Acute, which runs hospitals in North Manchester , Rochdale , Bury and Oldham , currently has a waiting list of around 300 youngsters needing procedures.

It covers one of the worst areas in the country for child tooth decay, but due to a shortage across the board, there is currently nowhere else to send patients.

Peel Hall has received material to help teach pupils about oral health, including a ready-made assembly that head teachers can use to address the whole school on the subject.

Lesson plans for Key Stages 1 and 2, and a copy of The Lost Smile, a new children’s book about oral health published by Wrigley are also included.

Some health authorities are proactive not like Southampton who think fluoridation is the only way.