Improving oral health

05 December 2013
Volume 29 · Issue 10

Local Plymouth MP Alison Seabeck joined with the Wrigley Company Ltd and Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry to host a high level summit on promoting better oral health in Plymouth.

During the meeting at the Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, attendees discussed a variety of issues including the challenges to improving oral health in Plymouth, what can be done to improve oral care services, and agreed to pursue a number of activities in the next few months.

Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry is part of Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry. It trains student dentists from A-level and is innovative in its approach – it was the first and remains one of very few dental schools in the UK to train future dentists in the primary care environment, and it is seen as the exemplar for the future of dental training.

It has recently established Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise (PDSE), the first time in the world that an education provider has incorporated a clinical entity into a social enterprise.  PDSE runs Peninsula School of Dentistry’s four Dental Education Facilities (DEFs), where students treat NHS patients under the supervision of qualified dental professionals. The DEFs have already impacted positively on oral health in the region – thanks to the programme, to date more than 13,500 people in Devon and Cornwall have access to NHS dental treatment where they may not have done so before.

PDSE also runs Peninsula School of Dentistry’s community programmes, designed to improve oral health and access to NHS dentistry for hard to reach members of the community. It is also instrumental in delivering Inter-professional engagement projects, which see students interact with different groups in the wider community on dental issues relevant to them. Such groups include primary schools, secondary schools, the elderly, substance abusers, looked after children, the homeless and people within the criminal justice system.

Most oral health problems are completely preventable but, once they occur, the mouth is the most expensive part of the body to treat.  Following recent reforms, councils are responsible for assessing the oral health needs of their local population, developing oral health strategies and commissioning oral health improvement programmes, so the issue is a vital one for councils and local stakeholders to get to grips with.

In Plymouth, a quarter of five-year-old children have dental decay, affecting on average 2.63 teeth.  Across the city there is a strong link between social deprivation and levels of dental decay. In terms of dental care provision, Plymouth has resources from Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise, Plymouth Unviersity Peninsula School of Dentistry, 23 high street general dental practices and two specialist orthodontic practices. The average waiting list for NHS dentistry in the city is in the region of 1,000 people.

Wrigley, whose UK manufacturing site is based in Plymouth, is the world’s leading manufacturer of chewing gum and a supporter of clinical research into the oral health benefits of chewing sugarfree gum.  Wrigley has been working in partnership with dental professionals for over 25 years to help promote better oral healthcare, including the provision of training programmes.  

Wrigley and Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry/PDSE have worked in partnership on a number of initiatives to improve local oral health in Plymouth, including the sponsorship of fun educational workshops on oral care for children visiting the CHICKS camp in Plymouth. In 2014, Wrigley and Peninsula will be working together on an immersive theatre experience for children to educate them around the importance of oral health care in a fun and interactive way.

Alison Seabeck, MP for Plymouth Moorview, said:

“As a local MP and as vice-chair of the All-Party Dental Group I am particularly interested in inequalities in oral health and how these can be improved.  It was good to have such a productive discussion with people from the voluntary sector, dentists, hygienists and nurses as well as those from the public sector and experts in dental education.   I think the rest of the country has a lot to learn from Plymouth on this front.”

Louisa Rowntree, Wrigley Oral Healthcare programme manager in the UK said:

“It was great to see so many people committed to improving people’s oral health together in the same room to talk about how they can coordinate their work in the future.  Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry/PDSE is one of the leading lights in oral healthcare and we  at Wrigley are looking forward to working closely with them and other local health stakeholders to improve the oral health of people in the area.”

Robert Witton, director of Social Engagement at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and Director of Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise, said:

“Engagement with the oral health needs of Plymouth and the wider region is a key objective for us. Not only does it provide our students with direct access to the widest range of NHS dentistry and oral health conditions, but it also allows us to investigate oral health needs and identify solutions. By putting those solutions into practise we benefit not just our local community, but also the development of practices, treatments and therapies which can be adopted worldwide. Today’s Round Table has been all about discussing these issues, and our thanks go to the team at Wrigley for enabling the event and for continuing to be a vital supporter of our work.”