Dental health in Lanarkshire primary school children is improving.
The encouraging signs were revealed in the recently published 2018 report of the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP).
It showed that the percentage of Lanarkshire primary 1 pupils who had no obvious signs of tooth decay has increased by almost five per cent to over 70 per cent since the last NDIP report two years ago. This represents a leap of around a quarter since the first NDIP survey in 2003/04.A huge part of the success is being attributed to the Childsmile programme, delivered via nurseries, schools and dental practices which involves free daily, supervised tooth-brushing, the application of fluoride varnish, and dietary and oral hygiene advice.
A recent visit to Lanarkshire by the Deputy First Minister John Swinney MSP, and Health Secretary Jeane Freeman MSP, when they visited Auchinraith Primary School in Blantyre, allowed them to see the Childsmile programme in action within the school including the additional support needs unit and associated nursery.
Anne Moore, NHS Lanarkshire clinical director of public dental services (PDS), said: “Childsmile is an increasingly successful oral health improvement programme which has helped dramatically reduce dental decay in Lanarkshire children.
“It does this by putting an emphasis on prevention rather than treatment and we’re pleased with the progress we are making.
“When this programme started Lanarkshire had the lowest participation in Scotland, but we’re now comparable with the national average.
“However, we’re not settling for this and aim to improve things further – particularly in Lanarkshire’s deprived communities which have higher levels of dental disease.
“It’s for this reason that a large focus of our work going forward will be supporting such communities.”
Des Dickson, education manager (operations) at South Lanarkshire Council (SLC), said: “This initiative is a brilliant example of partnership working between health, local authority and education which is making a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of Lanarkshire children.
“It underlines the importance of integrated work between health and social care.
“This joint working approach is undoubtedly responsible for the improvements we have seen over the last 10–14 years.”
Head teacher at Auchinraith Primary, Julie McCulloch, said: “We were delighted both Ministers visited Lanarkshire to hear about the progress we are making.
“Our staff deserve the highest praise for the way they work together with our partner agencies to achieve the best they can for all of our children”.
Following the visit Health Secretary Jeane Freeman MSP said: “The Childsmile programme has resulted in significant improvements in children’s oral health across Scotland.
“It’s hugely encouraging that in 2018, 71 per cent of primary 1 children have no obvious decay compared to 58 per cent in 2008.
“Our aim is that every child has access to Childsmile and reducing inequalities in health is critical to achieving our aim of making Scotland a better, healthier place for everyone, no matter where they live.”
