Bringing together child health professionals and dental experts to tackle oral health in children.

BACKGROUND

In the UK, poor oral health among children continues to be a major public health concern. Primary care professionals are encouraged to take a proactive approach in engaging parents and carers to develop better oral health practices for their children. Unfortunately, research has shown that patients are often exposed to inconsistent and at worst conflicting advice.

AIM

To increase the confidence of primary care professionals in their knowledge surrounding preventative oral health and ensure the delivery of consistent and proactive oral health advice.

METHOD

A local dentist and dental health educator were invited to a general practice multidisciplinary meeting to deliver an educational session on oral health advice for children. Qualitative and quantitative data in form of a questionnaire was collected to analyse the impact of the education session.

RESULTS

The meeting was attended by 15 healthcare professionals including GPs, paediatricians, a community mental health representative, and a school nurse. There were 78% of attendees who reported that they had never received any formal teaching on oral health care prior to this session. Qualitative data highlighted specific gaps in knowledge, while confidence ratings suggest significant improvement in confidence of attendees in their knowledge of oral health in children.

CONCLUSION

Achieving good oral health for all children requires the support of a wide range of healthcare professionals. Further education sessions such as this encourages joint learning and relationship building between professionals and influences behaviour to improve child health care as part of making every contact count. The emerging Primary Care Networks provide an excellent setting to deliver this education.