Residents at risk of developing cavities and the other painful consequences of poor dental hygiene may receive ‘targeted’ support, after Blackburn with Darwen Council approved fresh funding for a successful service.
This service, which provides workshops, training, and toothbrushes with the aim of improving the town’s oral health, began in response to troubling data in 2019 that indicated the area’s children had the worst tooth decay in the whole of England by a significant margin.
That shocking data showed that over half (51%) of five year olds in the borough were already experiencing some level of tooth decay, more than double the national average.
But a major intervention, funded by public health bodies, saw the creation the Oral Health Improvement Service in 2022 – a targeted approach that managed to lower these levels of childhood tooth decay to 34.8 per cent by 2023.
While this is still some way above the national average for tooth decay (22.4%), the success of targeted interventions at nurseries and for children in reception class has seen public health leaders in Blackburn sign off on funding for four more years of the contractor-run scheme, which was due to run out in July.
This will mean that children under the age of five in at risk areas will carry on receiving supervised toothbrushing sessions, which helps embed the importance of dental hygiene in their daily routine.
These kids receive special toothbrushing packs alongside their supervision, which health visitors are also being trained to hand out when doing home visits for families with young children.
This training and provision of materials has also been expanded to social care and care home workers, as vulnerable adults living in poverty, often with poor mental health, and the elderly, are also likely to experience preventable dental disease.
In a request for further funding, public health officials stated: “The service will continue and expand the supervised toothbrushing programme for young children and provide targeted support for vulnerable adults and families, and care home residents.”
In order to bring down the levels of tooth decay among the borough’s adult population, this funding should also see social workers trained ‘to raise awareness of oral health needs and distribute toothbrushing packs to those in hostels and HMOs.’
The total value of this contract over the next four years is £838,866, with the bulk of the funding coming from an NHS Section 256 public health grant and the rest of the moneys coming from the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.
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