With a possible wait of up to twelve months, kids in Salford have seen their dental health deteriorate over the past few years but now 3,000 schools in the area have decided to try and stop the rise in tooth decay by teaching lessons in dental hygiene to their pupils. Salford’s worst affected schools are to be given dental education packs, which teach children how to brush properly, and includes assembly and lesson plans for Key Stages 1 and 2. There is also a children’s book to educate the kids about good dental practice, which has been published by Wrigley.
Manchester currently has one of the highest rates of tooth decay among three-year-olds, at 25.6 per cent, and it is the main reason that five to nine-year-olds are given general anaesthetic in the UK as a whole, costing the NHS billions of pounds every year.
Although Salford is one of the worst places in the country for childhood tooth decay, there are simple ways to halt the process and improve dental hygiene enormously; just by brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, visiting the dentist regularly, and cutting down on sugary snacks, parents could help their children to reduce the risk of decay dramatically.
