Improving your oral health
There are many benefits to having a healthy mouth or good oral health, such as being free of pain, infection and disease, the ability to easily bite, chew, talk and smile, as well as increased confidence.
Tooth decay is the most common oral disease affecting children and young people in England, yet it is largely preventable. Just under a quarter of all children in England have experience of tooth decay by the age of five. These children may go on to have a lifetime of poor oral health with associated health and financial costs.
Good oral health is also an essential part of ageing well. Social participation, communication and diet are all affected when oral health is impaired.
How can you improve your oral health?
Simple measures such as brushing your teeth at least twice a day, improved diet, use of and access to fluoride, along with attending the dentist for regular check-ups to identify problems early, can all help to prevent, or reduce, oral diseases.
The most common oral diseases – tooth decay and gum disease – as well as oral cancers, share many of the same common risk factors (e.g. smoking, alcohol misuse, obesity and poor diet) as other common diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and other cancers – so addressing these risk factors can benefit more than one aspect of health.
Oral Health Promotion Service
We commission an oral health promotion service that offers training to services that work with children and vulnerable adults. The service runs a supervised tooth brushing programme in targeted schools in areas of high need, produces resources for parents of young children and runs oral health promotion campaigns.
Further information can be found here:
