The toolkit – available at Oral Health Toolkit – was formally launched to mark World Oral Health Day today (Thursday 20 March, 2025), alongside a campaign which will highlight simple ways parents can help keep children’s teeth healthy.
It has been developed in response to a recommendation from councillors following a series of special scrutiny meetings. Featuring key strategies and resources, it is aimed at a range of professionals working with children and young people in health and education settings and also includes a section for councillors to help them promote good oral health in the city. Funding of £25,000 was contributed to the toolkits from the Household Support Fund.
Meanwhile parents interested in learning more about how to keep their children’s teeth healthy are being invited to a free online workshop taking place on Tuesday (25 March) from 1pm to 2pm. Call Kelly Murror on 07771 836633 or Leanne Whild 07800 919911 or visit Online Henry Workshop - Healthy Teeth to book a place.
Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, Cabinet Member for Adults and Wellbeing said: “Tooth decay is the most common oral disease affecting children and young people in England, yet it is largely preventable.
“Poor oral health impacts on school readiness and leads to missed days of school due to pain and infection; it affects children’s ability to eat, smile and socialise, negatively impacting confidence and wellbeing, and it also increases demand on emergency dental care, with almost 90% of hospital tooth extractions among children aged up to five due to preventable tooth decay.”
Councillor Jacqui Coogan, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, added: “Supporting children to have healthy teeth is everyone’s business and we all have a part to play. I am therefore pleased to support the launch of the oral health toolkit as one of the ways in which we can help raise awareness of how to keep children’s teeth strong and healthy.”
Since 2023 the council’s Public Health team, in partnership with The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’s Special Dental Care Team, have trained over 100 early years professionals on key oral health improvement messages and distributed nearly 100,000 free tubes of toothpaste to children and vulnerable individuals through places such as food banks and community shops.
Some 15 early years settings like nurseries across the city have also adopted the supervised toothbrushing programme, Brilliant Brushers, ensuring that children brush their teeth in the setting once a day. Oral health workshops are also being run for families at Family Hub locations as part of the Henry good parenting programme.
Councillors have also taken an active interest in children’s oral health with the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel and Health Scrutiny Panel holding meetings to bring partners together to explore this topic.
Councillor Jane Francis, Chair of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel, said: “Councillors recognise how important it is for children in the city to have healthy teeth and I would like to thank my colleagues in Scrutiny and our city partners for their hard work in raising the importance of this issue and supporting the development of the toolkit.”
