We create fun and engaging environments for promoting good oral health to vulnerable children and adults, and their families and carers.
Our dedicated Smarter Smiles outreach team of trained clinicians and oral health educators regularly engages with:
- Children in schools and early years settings
- Children and older adults in care facilities
- Children and adults with additional needs
- Those experiencing homelessness
- Travellers
- Drug and alcohol misusers
- People from ethnic minority backgrounds
According to the needs of each group, we deliver information and advice on oral health, healthy eating, alcohol consumption and smoking, and signpost to practical oral health information about tooth brushing, the benefits of fluoride, sugar-free medicines and so much more.
Our oral health promotion work with and for children includes:
- Formally accrediting oral health promotion schemes in early years and primary school settings
- Training the trainers to reach an even wider audience, including health and non-health professionals who work with children
- Advocating the integration of oral health into targeted home visits by health/social care workers
- Promoting supervised tooth brushing schemes in early years settings and primary schools
- Providing a fluoride varnish programme in primary schools, in areas where children are at greatest risk of poor oral health
- Promoting a ‘whole-school’ approach to oral health promotion and prevention in the primary and secondary school curricula, for example, to make plain drinking water freely available, provide a choice of food, drinks and snacks that are sugar-free or low in sugar and form part of a healthier diet (including those offered in vending machines), and promote oral health information for parents, carers and children, including details on how to access local dental services
Our oral health promotion work with and for adults includes:
- Promoting oral health in the workplace
- Delivering targeted services for adults at higher risk of poor oral health, including training the trainer activities to reach a wider audience, including health and non-health professionals who work with adults from deprived populations who do not attend dentist regularly, as well as adults with additional needs
- Providing information about what services are available to the public and how to access them
- Working with partners to promote oral health and oral health services in residential care homes and domiciliary care services
We often work in partnership with other healthcare providers to widen access to additional services alongside dental, making every contact count. An invaluable integrated approach, maximising our collective reach and impact.
The Smarter Smiles partners also proactively support key national campaigns such as National Smile Month and Mouth Cancer Awareness Month, further opportunities to improve local awareness of good oral health.
