The document discusses child oral health in Tower Hamlets, London. It finds that 17.3% of 3-year-olds in Tower Hamlets have tooth decay, higher than the London and national averages. It also reports that dental extractions are a leading cause of hospital admissions for children in the area. Current programmes to address this include the Brushing for Life and Healthy Teeth in Schools initiatives. The five-year plan calls for continuing oral health education, school dental visits, and improving access to special care services. Effective interventions include twice daily brushing with fluoride toothpaste and applying fluoride varnishes twice per year.

1. Romana Alli Ahmer Imtiaz Rebekah Hadley
Institute of Dentistry
Child Oral Health in Tower Hamlets
REFERENCES: 1) Public Health England (2014). Oral health survey of 3 year old children 2013
(http://www.nwph.net/dentalhealth/reports/DPHEP%20for%20England%20OH%20Survey%203yr%202013%20Report.pdf 2) Public Health England(2014) Delivering Better Oral Health-an evidence based toolkit
for prevention 3) Marinho VC, Worthington HV, Walsh T, Clarkson JE. Fluoride varnishes for preventing dental caries in children and adolescents Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Jul 11;7:CD002279
doi:0.1002/14651858.CD002279.pub2
WHAT IS ORAL HEALTH?
‘’a standard of the oral and related tissues
which enables an individual to eat, speak and
socialise without disease, pain, discomfort or
embarrassment.’’
WHO Definition
TOWER HAMLETS ORAL HEALTH STATUS:
• Access: 46.9% in 2006. Rise to 50.4% - Average in England is
69.4%
• 2013: 17.3% Age 3 with tooth decay; 13.6% in London and 11.7%
England
• 3 year old children with early childhood caries was 9.1% compared
to 5.3% for London and 3.9% for England
• In 2013/14 dental extraction was among the highest cause of
hospital admissions for children in London. In Tower Hamlets 469
children were admitted to hospital for dental extractions with 56% in
the 5-9 year age group
CURRENT PROGRAMMES:
•Brushing for Life programme - targeting health professionals
working with children aged under 5
•Healthy Teeth in Schools - a fluoride varnish programme for 3 to 6-
year-old children, providing dental prevention intervention and
access to primary care services for those with urgent treatment
needs
•Promoting oral health in faith and cultural groups and
organisations
•Promoting oral health in schools
•Developing a paediatric care pathway in conjunction with Queen
Mary and NHS England to increase uptake of services
•Training to front line staff
•Out of hours urgent dental care
•Special care facilities
FIVE YEAR PLAN
•Continual oral hygiene training to front line
staff – follow the oral health toolkit
•Dental visits to schools – send out dental
students and dentists to schools
•Maintain programmes such as Brushing for
Life programme and Healthy Teeth in
Schools
•Improving access – ensuring special care
services are advertised and known about e.g.
GP informing patients about availability
•Use of common risk factor approach –
healthy meals at schools, removal of vending
machines, increasing education about healthy
eating
EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS:
• Brush 2 x day with fluoride toothpaste
• Applying fluoride varnishes at least 2 x per
year
• Encourage the use of fluoride mouthwash
• Organise regular supervised use of fluoride
mouth rinses for children with special
needs or at high risk of dental caries
• Support home visits that provide new
mothers with advice about breastfeeding
and weaning
• Ensure that where appropriate dentists cover
the molar teeth of children with a resin -
based sealant
• Implement policies which reduce sugar
consumption in children as they may be
helpful in preventing tooth decay
Source: National Dental
Epidemiology Programme for
England: oral health survey of
five-year-old children 2015