NHS campaign gets children in Wales brushing up their smiles

LEVELS of tooth decay in five-year-olds have steadily declined over the past decade in Wales.

That’s according to an NHS dental programme funded by the Welsh Government called Designed to Smile.

Since it was launched in 2008, levels of dental decay in five-year-olds in Wales have dropped by 12%. The programme has encouraged nearly 95,000 children to regularly brush their teeth.

Following on from this success, the Designed to Smile programme will now be refocused to target under-fives.

Research has shown that dental decay often starts early and so early prevention will have the most impact. The focus of the Designed to Smile activities will therefore shift to this younger age group, with the aim of getting children decay-free by five years old.

Chief Dental Officer Colette Bridgman said: “The refocus of the programme will encourage everyone working with children under five to help improve their oral health. It is important that every young child in Wales is supervised to brush their teeth with family fluoride toothpaste at bedtime, and on one other occasion every day.

“Having nothing sweet to eat or drink in the last hour before bedtime will also help to protect teeth from decay.”

Speaking at the Designed to Smile symposium in Cardiff last week, Minister for Social Services and Public Health Rebecca Evans said: “I am very pleased to see how successful Designed to Smile has been in improving children’s dental health in Wales. We now know that to improve dental health further, it is important to start at an earlier age, so that tooth decay can be prevented before it becomes a problem.”