Nursery World - Project to brush up dental health

A new scheme aims to tackle Scotland's appalling dental health statistics by setting up a toothbrushing project in every nursery. At present, by the age of five, 55 per cent of Scottish children have dental disease and over a quarter of a million teeth are extracted from Scottish children each year. The Scottish Executive's white paper, Towards a Healthier Scotland, published in 1999, set a target of 60 per cent of five-year-olds with no experience of dental disease by 2010.

At present, by the age of five, 55 per cent of Scottish children have dental disease and over a quarter of a million teeth are extracted from Scottish children each year. The Scottish Executive's white paper, Towards a Healthier Scotland, published in 1999, set a target of 60 per cent of five-year-olds with no experience of dental disease by 2010.

The Scottish Executive regards schools as the key vehicle for the promotion of healthy lifestyles to children, and dental health is already a priority in all Scottish schools' health education programmes. A Scotland-wide baby toothbrushing project, which involved supplying toothbrushes for eight-month old babies, started in September 2001. Nursery children are now being targeted with the two-year 'Oral Health Demonstration Project', which has been awarded 52,576 for 2002-04.

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