Kids dental clean team goes green

A group of smiley dental professionals have gone green.

Extended Duties Dental Nurses in Renfrewshire are taking their Childsmile message around the area’s schools and nurseries in a fleet of electric vans.

The teams – who between them provided fluoride-varnish applications on a healthy 46,000 occasions last year – have taken ownership of all-electric vans, which is allowing them to transport their mobile dental equipment from school to school.

“Not only are these new electric vans great for the staff using them and the children they are visiting, but environmentally have the benefit of being C02 emission free,”said Tom Ferris, Scottish Government’s Interim chief dental officer, who met some the Childsmile team and senior managers to give his approval of these new greener vans.

NHSGGC’s interim clinical service manager for Primary Care Dental Services, Susan Frew said: “Some of our staff seemed a bit anxious about driving these new electric vans at first.

“I think they were worried about running out of charge.

“However, following an awareness training session their minds have been put at ease and they are now whizzing across Paisley.

“We’ve also thought about safety and have had an engine noise‘added’to the vans to make them sound like normal vans that the children will hear.”

Anne Muir, interim operation manager for Childsmile added:“The introduction of these electric vans and the charging points we have had installed at our bases demonstrates a long term commitment to a greener future.”