Only 19 per cent of children under the age of two saw a dentist in the last year, she said. She asked her audience of around 1,000 delegates, many of them young dentists, to try and see four additional children under two in the coming year. If all the 22,000 dentists with a contract saw four more under twos, then together they could bring down the number of general anaesthetics for dental extractions.
“This is my rallying cry, asking you to join me in making the dental check by one a reality. Please think how you can make a difference. We need to be innovative and we all need to be working together.”
A dental check by one is recommended in the commissioning guidelines for paediatric dentistry, compiled under the chairmanship of Stephen Fayle but still awaiting publication, and was one of the outcomes of the BSPD stakeholders meeting a year ago when all those present committed to support the campaign.
Collaborative working is very much on BSPD’s agenda Claire told her audience, and she went on to describe the work being undertaken in Manchester where she is chair of the Managed Clinical Network (MCN) for paediatric dentistry. Local GDPs had taken the lead, she said, in trying to create a network so that all children could get dental care.
Not all dentists wanted to treat children, she said, and she understood this, but she recommended that parents should be signposted to practices where families are welcome.
She praised the leadership of Jon Rouse, Manchester’s Chief Officer for Health and Social care, who, she said, understood that giving children a good start to their dental health could affect their life chances.
She continued, “I am really positive about Manchester; I am really positive about the role of MCNs and I am really positive about the future.” Claire went on to describe the initiatives soon to be unrolled by the office of the chief dental officer, including Smile4life, which she said would bring about strategic change.
Most children’s dentistry is carried out in general practice, she said, and it was important that everyone treating children carried out the same evidence-based treatments. The use of Hall crowns for the treatment of decayed primary teeth was advocated by Claire. The Hall crown technique was developed by a GDP in Scotland and research had shown it was a superior approach to managing decay compared to conventional restorations and was well tolerated by patients because local anaesthetics weren’t usually needed.
Her presentation, which opened the BDA conference, went down very well with her audience and attracted a lot of questions on a wide range of issues relating to children’s oral health.