Minister outlines moves on child oral health and new contract
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- Published: Thursday, 28 April 2016 07:39
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In reply to Parliamentary Questions, health minister Alistair Burt MP has outlined the steps he is taking to improve dental standards amongst primary school age children. Separately he said in reply to Paula Sherriff the Labour MP for Dewsbury that a reformed dental contract could begin to be rolled out nationally from 2018/19 onwards.
Alistair Burt MP Minister of State, Department of Health, said: “We are committed to improving the oral health of school children. Public Health England (PHE)has produced a toolkit to support local authorities in their responsibility to improve dental health and reduce inequalities among children and young people in their area. It supports local authorities to invest in programmes which have demonstrated improvement in children’s dental health, for example targeted community-based fluoride varnish programmes, targeted tooth brushing programmes and water fluoridation. PHE has also this year published a toolkit to support the consideration of water fluoridation as a measure to reduce levels of tooth decay.
“Sugar consumption is the primary cause of tooth decay in children. The Sugar Swaps campaign was launched in January 2015, helping families reduce their sugar consumption through making simple swaps to their diets. In addition PHE has developed guidance for dental teams on preventing dental disease in young children. Advice on prevention of dental disease has also been published by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence”
In reply to Paula Sherriff MP, he said: “The current dental contract reform prototypes are testing a new way of providing preventative care, including the right balance of payment incentives. Subject to evaluation of the prototypes, a reformed dental contract could begin to be rolled out nationally from 2018/19 onwards.”
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