Early Years Oral Health Programme

Welcome to the Thurrock Early Years Oral Heath page.

The new Early Years Oral Health Team are now out and about, delivering education and training, providing tools for dental public health, and promoting oral health across Thurrock.

The project aims to increase awareness of good oral health practices, and knowledge of dental services available, to decrease the number of Thurrock children needing to be admitted to hospital for tooth extractions.

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved with this project, such as attending training or sharing tools and knowledge within your professional and personal community. We'd encourage anyone interested in this project to use this page to follow us and get involved wherever possible.

More about the programme

The programme has four main workstreams:

1. Community-Based Oral Health Promotion
   • Facilitating community engagement and supporting good oral health are key aims of the Early Years Oral Health Programme. We work with a range of community organisations to provide Toothbrushing packs, which each include oral health information, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and educational leaflets.
     
2. Early Years Engagement
   • This programme aims to instil good oral health habits from a young age by targeting children from birth to 8 years of age. The team are working closely with parents / carers nurseries, primary schools and other Early Years settings, including Family Hubs. Thurrock is one of only 75 local authorities that have received funding to set up Family Hubs. Family Hubs are support centres that facilitate access to a range of early help services for families with children and young people aged 0-19. The Early Years Oral Health Team work with the Family Hubs staff and volunteers to deliver interactive Oral Health sessions where families can access oral health information, free toothbrushing packs and signposting to dental services.
3. Supervised Toothbrushing
   • Supervised toothbrushing is the activity of supervising or managing toothbrushing, usually for a child or those who may require toothbrushing assistance. It can be done on a 1:1 basis, at home, or in a group setting. In schools and early years settings, this process involves managing toothbrushing for a class or group of students. The supervised toothbrushing programme is a coordinated programme to be delivered within a group of Thurrock schools and other settings.
4. Workforce & Volunteer Training
   • Delivery of Oral Health training is an important objective of this program. The aim is to deliver additional or refresher oral health training to the both paid staff and volunteers in the Thurrock Early Years workforce, with a focus on the Thurrock Health and Social Care Network, and other organisations and community groups involved in promoting the wellbeing of Babies, Children and Young People.

Does this project impact me?

The oral health of young people in Thurrock has a wide ranging impact. Poor oral health in children can directly impact not only the children themselves, not only in terms of pain, it can also affect their physical, social and emotional development, Parents / carers and wider family members can also be affected, for example increasing lost work days for parents / carers. Poor oral health can also have a wider impact in creating additional pressure on local medical, dental community and voluntary services.

Whilst the main aim of this project is to improve oral health for the children of Thurrock, there are other benefits that will have a positive impact for the wider Thurrock community. To get the most benefit from this programme we need need individuals and organisations across Thurrock to get involved in doing their bit to support the health of children in the community as much as possible.

How can I get involved?

The best place to start is to explore this page, looking at the various engagement opportunities and accessing the tools/resources provided (available for both carers and professionals). If you would like any more information about how you can get involved either as an individual or as part of a community group or organisation you can contact the team using the "Who's Listening" links above.

We would also love to hear your ideas on other ways we can help the community and organisations in Thurrock to spread the simple but important message.

"Brush for 2 minutes twice a day"