Grant from the People’s Postcode Lottery to promote dental health in Leeds schools

Dentaid’s Bright Bites programme will see volunteer dental professionals and student dentists visiting schools in the north of the city. The sessions will include an introduction to teeth, illustrations of sugar quantities in popular foods and drinks and toothbrushing techniques. Children will be encouraged to participate in the lessons with a series of challenges and hands-on activities. Their parents will also be invited to attend the sessions in the hope that families will increase their awareness of sugar consumption, good toothbrushing and the importance of dental check ups.   

All the children will receive a toothbrush and toothpaste, stickers and an information sheet with heathy lower sugar recipes and lunch box and snack suggestions. Teachers will also be offered Dentaid’s Bright Bites teaching resources with experiments and lesson plans to follow on from the volunteer’s visit.   

“For the last 20 years Dentaid has worked tirelessly to improve the world’s oral health and we know that education from a young age is the key to achieving this,” said Andy Evans, strategic director of Dentaid. “The sad truth is that tooth decay is the most common reason for British children being admitted to hospital and totally avoidable extractions are deeply distressing for children and their parents. These sessions for key stage 1 and 2 pupils will be engaging and informative with volunteers demonstrating the importance of sugar awareness, good toothbrushing and regular dental check ups. We are very grateful that the People’s Postcode Lottery has chosen to support this important area of our work which we hope will improve dental health in this area of Leeds.”