The London Evening Standard reports on the UK’s first ’healthy’ supermarket, following recommendations by public health experts, which has been launched in Central London. The store gives greater visibility to healthy foods, such as fruit, vegetables and pulses and less shelf space to products such as chocolate, crisps and sugary drinks.
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Only 35% of people in low-income countries have access to oral health care compared with 82% in high-income countries, a study published in The Lancet has found. The most vulnerable people in Ireland have the worst access to dental care and marginalised children and adults and people with disabilities have the most difficulty accessing a dentist, said Prof Blánaid Daly, of Dublin Dental University Hospital.
Read more: Low income people globally miss out on dental care
In a recent ruling, judges have said that ‘Gig economy’ workers are entitled to a minimum amount of annual holiday pay. The Court of Appeal said that a business must calculate a worker’s average pay over 12 weeks to determine an average weekly wage for holiday pay. Whether this will mean a change for self-employed dentists, working as associates, remains to be seen.
The Faculty of Dental Surgery at the RCS (England) says that all schools in England should be encouraged to become sugar free to tackle worrying levels of child tooth decay. The call comes as analysis shows more than 100,000 hospital admissions for children under the age of ten in England due to tooth decay over a three-year period.
Read more: RCS calls for sugar free schools to tackle scourge of child tooth decay
Public Health England has found evidence that children under three are being turned into “heavy snackers” by crisps, biscuits and dried fruit aimed at babies and young children. It said misleading labelling meant that baby snacks marketed as healthy may contain as much sugar as sweets. It has called on the Government to take action to how such products are marketed.
Read more: PHE warns infant diets have too high sugar content
New data published by Dental Protection reveals that almost 40% of its estimated annual claims costs in 2018 related to cases where treatment started ten or more years ago before the claim was made. Raj Rattan, Dental Director at Dental Protection, said: “We clearly live in an increasingly litigious environment and dentists need to be confident that they can request support from their indemnifier in 10, 20, or even 30 years time.”
Read more: Two fifths of claims go back over ten years says Dental Protection
The Oral Health Foundation has launched its new strategy for oral health, which will run until 2024. Titled ‘Better oral health for all’, which addresses the world’s growing oral health demands. It also sets out how the charity will tackle oral disease and help improve the quality of life for millions of people in the UK and around the world. It comes at a time where half the globe’s adult population have tooth decay, including 500 million children who have decay in their deciduous teeth.
Read more: Oral Health Foundation announces new strategy for oral health
In what many will see as a blow to the BDA’s recent moves towards increasing diversity in its leadership roles, Mark Bishop, a retired private endodontist from Hastings, has won election to the BDA’s Principal Executive Committee. In the final round of voting he beat off a strong challenge by Lauren Harrhy, wining by 608 votes to 499.
The BDA has called on the government to ensure all members of the NHS Pension scheme benefit from new pledges made to senior medics offering full flexibility over the amount they can put into their pension pots. PEC Chair Mick Armstrong said: “Deliver consistency on NHS pensions, or open the floodgates to legal challenges.”
Read more: Dentists demand consistency after changes to NHS pension scheme