Latest news with #toothdecay
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Schools in Gloucestershire join toothbrushing scheme to battle decay
More than 6,000 children from 113 schools across Gloucestershire are participating in a toothbrushing club. In March, the Government announced that children in the most deprived areas of England will get access to a programme to help protect them from tooth decay. The NHS has been funding At Home Dental's Big Brush Club, since it was launched in 2024. They help provide schools with free toothbrushes, toothpaste and kits for the children to take home. Jermaine Badman, Big Brush Club Project Facilitator, said the club was a "preventative programme" to stop early cases of tooth decay. In the South West, more than 3,300 teachers and staff have been trained as Oral Health Champions. One of the 113 Primary Schools and Nurseries involved is Bream Church of England Primary School. Headteacher Nicky Brice said: "We all know children have to brush their teeth twice a day but there is a real technique to it, good oral hygiene is vital to introduce at an early stage."We know those challenging times are bed times and getting ready for school, this makes those daily routines a lot smoother and easier." Government statistics show that 22.4% of five year old schoolchildren in England had experience of obvious dental decay, with tooth decay the most common reason for hospital admissions in children aged between five and nine Badman and Chantelle Coles, Big Brush Club Project Facilitators, said: "We target areas of deprivation, educating children how to brush their teeth effectively."It gives them the independence of doing it themselves and it makes the children very familiar with what they need to be doing."The provide advice to parents through online webinars, advising them: "Children aged above three years old should use a pea size amount of toothpaste and below three years old, the size of a grain of rice."
CTV News
30-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Calgary reintroduces fluoride to its drinking water
More than a decade after it was removed, fluoride is now being reintroduced into Calgary's drinking water. Mason DePatie reports. More than a decade after it was removed, fluoride is now being reintroduced into Calgary's drinking water. Mason DePatie reports. After more than a decade without it, fluoride is now being reintroduced into Calgary's drinking water. The City of Calgary began adding fluoride at a concentration of 0.7 milligrams per litre – the optimal level recommended by Health Canada to help prevent tooth decay – on Monday. While fluoride does occur naturally in water at lower levels, the mineral was first manually added into Calgary's water in 1991. It was eventually decided by city council to discontinue the practice in 2011. The decision to reintroduce fluoride followed a 2021 plebiscite held during the municipal election, in which 62 per cent of voters supported its return. In response, the city invested $28.1 million in infrastructure upgrades to facilitate the fluoridation process. Ongoing operation and maintenance are expected to cost an additional $1 million annually. With this step, Calgary joins many other municipalities in Canada and around the world in embracing fluoridation. 'It helps to improve the strength of the enamel at the surface of our teeth,' said James Dickinson, a professor of family medicine and community health sciences at the University of Calgary. 'And it makes it more resistant to the acids caused by food in the mouth, and therefore ensures in the long term we have better dental health.' Dickinson pointed to a 2021 University of Calgary study that found Grade 2 students in Calgary had higher rates of cavities than their peers in Edmonton, a city that has continuously fluoridated its water since 1967. He said the reintroduction of fluoride will be most beneficial for people who don't get fluoride in their toothpaste. 'So young children, where it's difficult for parents to make sure they brush their teeth with fluoride, those who can't afford or don't understand the value of fluoride toothpaste, and also those who are ill or elderly who have difficulty brushing their teeth,' Dickinson said. Arash Ravanbakhsh, a Calgary dentist and owner of Inglewood Family Dental, notes that people still need to practice regular dental hygiene – even with fluoride back in the water. 'At the dentist, they can get topical fluoride in addition to having fluoride in the toothpaste, and that actually is where fluoride has its most benefits,' he said. While in favour of its reintroduction, Ravanbakhsh noted that it does make it harder to control the intake of fluoride, as different age groups and activity levels dictate how much water people drink. The impact of this health measure will also extend to neighbouring communities such as Chestermere, Airdrie and Strathmore, which rely on Calgary's water supply. Officials stress that the level of fluoride being added will not affect the taste, smell or appearance of the water.
RNZ News
11-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Avoid store-bought baby food unless travelling, nutritionist warns
The NHS also said parents shouldn't let babies suck on a pouch and should always feed from a spoon. Photo: 123rf A nutrition expert says parents should only rely on store-bought baby food when they are travelling and it's too difficult to feed fresh food. It comes after the UK's National Health Service (NHS) advised parents not to rely on baby food pouches as everyday meals after six brands failed to meet key nutritional standards. The NHS also said parents shouldn't let babies suck on a pouch and should always feed from a spoon because of the risk of tooth decay. Auckland-based dietician Anna Richards agreed with the advice. "I think we should be relying on pouch foods only for travelling, out-and-abouting when it's absolutely too difficult to feed fresh food." Richards told Morning Report commercially-made baby food was high in sugar and evidence showed once a baby tasted sweet food they preferred it to the bitter taste of vegetables. "We have a lot of issues with children relying on pouch food in that many of them are very high in sugar. "And while they don't have any added sugar, they have a fruit base to them, the majority of them, or very sweet vegetable base." She said parent confidence played a key role in decisions around food. "We've seen, particularly since Covid, parents are time-poor. They're really anxious about giving their babies the best start in life. "And so they're just lapping up a lot of the marketing that's coming around these products." On top of that, eating directly from a pouch limited a baby's ability to learn about food through chewing and play. "In order to meet and explore food, children need to see it. They need to smell it. They need to rub it in their hair and get it on their fingers and their faces. "And when children are eating straight from pouches they're not getting any of that surrounding feeding experience." She said because of that, pouch food would taste "pretty much" the same, and have the same texture. "We find children who have had a heavy reliance on a homogenous texture through the initial stages of their feeding, are children that then want to go onto foods that have a homogenous texture. "So things like chicken nuggets for example, that all look exactly the same, and they all taste exactly the same and the texture's utterly predictable as opposed to home-made food where we get a variety in texture - things look a little bit different." It was also important to give children foods that required some chewing, Richards said. "Chewing is actually really important for satiety and for us getting our messages that we've had enough to eat. "So there's a lot of concern that when we consume a lot of calories or a lot of energy without chewing, that that can then lead to obesity. "So not only in children and pouches but in adults that consume a lot of food in liquid form rather than actually chewing it." Richards said a serving size of fruit was what sits in the palm of a child's hand - it was not a whole piece of fruit. "Some of these children can hoover their way through a couple of pouches so that's the equivalent of five tennis ball pieces of fruit which is way above (more than) what we want children to be having, which is two or three handfuls of fruit in a day and in fact there's a big move for veggies only as first foods." She said it was believed children who were predominantly introduced to vegetables would be far more accepting of them at five-years-old and later in life. "We want children to progress to family food and eat what their family's eating." The Ministry of Health's advice when buying baby food is: The NHS also advised not giving snacks to baby's under the age of 12 months. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The Independent
08-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Children in most deprived areas more likely to visit A&E and be obese
Children living in England's most deprived areas are more likely to visit A&E, be overweight or obese and suffer from tooth decay, a new report by aid agency Unicef UK has found. The organisation has called on the Government to lift its two-child benefit cap after its findings showed that where children grow up until the age of five has 'a significant impact' on their early outcomes and future potential. In the report published on Monday, every local authority in England was analysed against its level of deprivation and a range of early childhood health and educational outcomes. It found that, when considering early years development, the most deprived authorities were more than twice as far away from achieving the Government's 'good level' target of 75% than the most affluent areas. Only four of the 151 upper tier local authorities in England are currently meeting that target. Nearly twice as many children suffer from late-stage, untreated tooth decay in the most deprived areas (29%) compared to the least deprived (15%), while five-year-old children living in the poorest communities are three times more likely to have had teeth removed due to decay, the report found. Almost a quarter of reception-age children in the most deprived areas (24%) are overweight or obese, while general obesity levels in those areas are more than double those of children in the most affluent areas (12.9%, compared to 6%). There is also an average of 1,020 A&E visits per 1,000 babies and young children in the most deprived areas, an increase of 55% on rates in the most affluent areas, the report found. The five local authorities with the highest levels of deprivation – Blackpool, Knowsley, Liverpool, Kingston upon Hull, and Middlesbrough – were each in the lowest 20% for five of the six child wellbeing measures used in the analysis. Some 1.2 million babies and children under the age of five – 35% of the age group's total population – now live in poverty across England, the report said. It added that child poverty has increased more in the UK then in any of the 38 OECD and EU countries. Among the report's recommendations are long-term, sustainable funding and expanding provision for Family Hubs, recruiting an additional 1,000 health visitors a year and making access to Government-funded childcare hours equal for all children aged two or older, regardless of their location or parental employment. Unicef UK, joined by BBC presenter Dr Chris Van Tulleken, will present a petition calling for investments in early childhood, which has more than 105,000 signatures, to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on Tuesday. Chief executive Dr Philip Goodwin warned the consequences of growing up in poverty can be lifelong and said the report's findings were 'not acceptable'. He said: 'There must be immediate, decisive, and ambitious action by the government. Any further delays will entrench inequality and condemn hundreds of thousands of children to poverty and its effects, as child poverty rates continue to rise. 'The Government must act urgently to lift the two-child limit and the benefit cap and commit to investing in the vital health and education services that support children during their crucial early years.' Introduced in 2015 by then-Conservative chancellor George Osborne, the cap restricts child welfare payments to the first two children born to most families. Sir Keir Starmer said he was 'absolutely determined' to 'drive down' child poverty when he was pressed on the two-child benefit cap in Parliament last week, ahead of the publication of the Government's strategy on the issue.
CBS News
02-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Removing fluoride from water could result in 25 million cavities and cost $9.8 billion, study estimates
New research suggests that removing fluoride from public water would increase dental care costs and tooth decay for children across the United States. The study, published Friday in the JAMA Health Forum, used a nationally representative sample of 8,484 children aged 0 to 19 from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate projected outcomes of stopping water fluoridation in the U.S. — something some states, including Utah and Florida, have already begun doing. Researchers found removing fluoride was associated with an increase in tooth decay of 7.5 percentage points, or 25.4 million cases, and cost approximately $9.8 billion over 5 years. These effects would disproportionately affect publicly insured and uninsured children, who are already at the highest risk of unmet dental needs, the authors added. Fluoride is a mineral that helps strengthen teeth and reduce cavities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It does this by repairing and preventing damage to teeth caused by bacteria in the mouth that produce acid, which in turn dissolves minerals in a tooth's surface and can even lead to tooth loss. Tooth decay by itself can be painful and costly to treat but left untreated can cause further problems, including infections and abscesses or even sepsis, according to the World Health Organization. Some research has also linked poor oral health to other complications, such as cardiovascular disease due to inflammation and infection. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water was long considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century, but Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought it into question, claiming fluoride is linked to a slew of health problems. Dental experts have told CBS News they largely disagree. "Seventy years of research, thousands of studies and the experience of more than 210 million Americans tell us that water fluoridation is effective in preventing cavities and is safe for children and adults," according to the American Dental Association. Fluoride can come from a number of sources, including most toothpaste brands, but researchers say drinking water is the main source for Americans. Plus, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this year that it is starting the process of removing ingestible fluoride prescription drug products for kids from the market.
