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Dental - Herefordshire and Worcestershire Oral Health Improvement
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The Herefordshire and Worcestershire Oral Health Improvement Team helps children, families and communities keep their mouths healthy. We work across both counties to improve oral health, prevent dental problems and make sure everyone has access to good oral health information and support.
What we do
Supervised toothbrushing
The Oral Health Improvement team in Worcestershire run the Smile Squad supervised toothbrushing programme in targeted early years settings for children aged 2 to 5.
Supervised toothbrushing programmes don’t replace brushing at home. They help families by giving each child a free toothbrush and toothpaste to take home every term and staff encourage families to continue brushing twice a day.
Participating settings help children brush their own teeth with fluoride toothpaste. This is while trained early-years staff supervise and guide them to make sure brushing is done safely and effectively.
Learn more about supervised toothbrushing in this video.
Oral health staff training for key front-line staff
Oral health plays a huge role in our overall health and wellbeing. The Smile Well Team work across Herefordshire and Worcestershire to provide evidence-based, up-to-date oral health training designed to strengthen the knowledge and skills of front-line staff. This training empowers professionals to confidently deliver key oral health messages as part of their everyday rolls.
Bespoke training sessions are available for a wide range of professionals, including health visitors, school nurses, early years practitioners, care home staff, social workers, charity organisations, community hospital staff and other relevant teams.
If your team would like to request free oral health training, please email: whcnhs.worcestershireoralhealth@nhs.net.
Oral health champion training
The Herefordshire and Worcestershire Oral Health Improvement Team carry out regular oral health champion training sessions for care homes across the counties.
The training is free and helps staff to:
- Understand why good oral health is essential for overall wellbeing.
- Be aware of NICE guidance and CQC requirements for oral health in care homes.
- Recognise the causes of dental disease and how to prevent them.
- Gain confidence in carrying out mouth care assessments.
- Support residents with daily mouth care.
If your care home is in Herefordshire or Worcestershire and you would like to take part in Oral Health Champion training, please email our team: whcnhs.worcestershireoralhealth@nhs.net.
Resources
The Oral Health Improvement Team post key oral health messages, tips, training updates and campaigns on here. Please follow this Facebook page to keep up to date with what is going on in Worcestershire to improve oral health.
Campaigns
- Mouth Cancer Action Month | Home | Oral Health Foundation
- National Smile Month | Home | Oral Health Foundation
Family information
- The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry has created some great videos to help families make toothbrushing fun.
Supervised toothbrushing tools
- Supervised Toothbrushing Toolkit
- Commissioning and delivering supervised toothbrushing schemes in early years and school settings - GOV.UK
Training tools for professionals
Practical training materials for primary and secondary schools to use to train staff to teach about health and prevention.