New oral health guidance recently published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations to improve the oral health for York’s residents.

The guidance is available at http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/PH55

The NICE guidance aims to help local authorities to promote and protect oral health through: additional training of staff and commissioning of personal care services including those provided to frail older people; policies and services that support better diets; activities to promote better oral hygiene and increase the availability of fluoride toothpaste; encouraging families and individuals to visit the dentist regularly and increasing access to dental services for those who can’t.

It also recommends that all schools should encourage good oral health – by working with parents and carers and by ensuring that people have access to the right information about oral health and healthy food and drinking water.

City of York Council’s Acting Director of Public Health, Julie Hotchkiss said: “Tooth decay is the most common oral disease affecting children and young people in England, yet it is largely preventable. Whilst children’s oral health has improved over the past 40 years, 6.9% of York’s three-year-olds have suffered from the disease which can be very painful and even result in a child having teeth removed under general anaesthetic.

“Oral health is everyone’s responsibility and by expanding oral health education, as recommended in this guidance, to the wider community we can reduce dental decay and ultimately improve the oral health of the local population.”

The guidance document includes recommendations for different age groups including:

◦Children aged up to three years old – parents or carers should supervise toothbrushing
◦Children aged three to six years old – should brush their teeth last thing at night and on one other occasion each day
◦All children and young adults – should spit out after brushing and do not rinse, to maintain fluoride concentration levels
◦All adults – should use a fluoridated toothpaste.
The guidance is available at http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/PH55