NEWS: Schools to Supervise Toothbrushing in England

As reported by BBC News, staff in England’s poorest areas will help young children brush their teeth at school to tackle rising tooth decay rates, but concerns remain over shifting parental duties

School and nursery staff in the most deprived areas of England will be asked to supervise young children while they brush their teeth, under a national toothbrushing programme.

Schemes are already running in some schools – but now dedicated central funding will reach the poorest areas where children are most at risk of tooth decay, the government says.

Dental experts said the move would “save children from pain and the NHS a fortune”.

But the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) union said caution was needed to avoid shifting “what is ultimately a parental responsibility on to the burden on schools”.

National supervised toothbrushing programmes have been running in Scotland since 2006 and Wales since 2009.

The idea, external, according to experts, is not to replace toothbrushing at home but to help build skills, good habits and confidence. But in England, provision is patchy, external, partly because of logistical problems but also a lack of staff and dedicated funding. About one out of every four, external five-year-olds in England has had tooth decay – and in poorer areas, it is one in three.

Paul Whiteman, of the NAHT, agreed there was a crisis in children’s dental health and the government was right to prioritise it. “However, we cannot keep loading increasing expectations on schools,” he said. “Nor can we keep looking to schools to fix all of society’s ills. Most people would see toothbrushing as a basic part of parenting and we must be careful not to shift what is ultimately a parental responsibility on to the shoulders of schools.”