Notes from our Dentistry Workshop

Why might it be of interest?

Sheryll talked about dental care in general but she had a lot of tips and information that might make it easier to manage where there some challenge.  Dental care is important and not being able to undertake it because of challenges is detrimental to the health of our young people and may lead to more invasive procedures being needed.

 These are notes we made from the workshop.

Brushing advice

• Twice a day for 2 minutes is ideal but anything is better than nothing
• The most important time of day to brush is in the evening
• Morning brushing can be at any time during the morning – not necessarily shortly after waking up
  • You can brush before breakfast – best to wait 30 minutes until eating so that the fluoride has time to soak into teeth
  • Can be after breakfast but ideally you should wait 1-2 hours after eating, as this is when teeth are at their weakest. No immediate damage likely but over time brushing while teeth are at their weakest could cause problems
  • Although in practice, it is likely to be quite early on school days!
• It’s OK to break brushing time up in to shorter slots
  • And to focus on front teeth in the morning and back teeth in the evening, for example, if this is what works best
• Any position is fine – sitting, standing, lying down
  • Anywhere the young person is comfortable
• Try to get a good view of inside the mouth
  • Getting to know your child’s teeth will help you spot problems developing (e.g. a grey shadow can be the early stage of decay)
• Use distraction if this helps
  • Magic timer (oral b and Disney app)
  • Brush DJ – a free toothbrush timer app that plays 2 minutes of music taken from the user’s device to encourage brushing
  • Watch TV
  • Egg timer
  • Whatever might work
• Don’t rinse
  • Try not to eat or drink for 30 minutes after brushing for fluoride to do its work
• Find an NHS dentist by visiting nhs.uk
• If you struggle to get your child to a dentist, you can be referred to the Community Special Care Dental Service – they can do home visits if required

Brushes and toothpaste

• Use a toothbrush with a small head
  • Better to get into small spaces
• Or a specialist toothbrush
  • Such as the Dr Barman’s Superbrush or Collis Curve brush (3 brushing surfaces)
  • Superbrush available from www.dentocare.co.uk
  • If using one of these brushing time can be shortened as it brushes front and back of teeth at the same time.
  • Must make sure you brush the gum line
• If you see bleeding keep cleaning because there is a problem and better brushing is needed
• Children should floss BUT getting a good brushing habit established is more important so don’t worry about this
• Toothpaste should have 1350-1500ppm (parts per million) fluoride (check on the packet, it will tell you)
  • Toothpaste with higher ppm (Duraphat) can be obtained on prescription. This is probably indicated where brushing is a problem or there is a specific tooth problem. Ask your dentist if you think your child needs this.
  • Flavoured toothpastes might help
  • Or unflavoured – Oranurse
  • SLS Free/unflavoured toothpastes may be helpful to those with sensitivity to flavours or textures. (Aqua Fresh Big teeth is SLS free)
  • Natural toothpastes aren’t recommended as they don’t contain fluoride, which dentists do recommend
• Mouthwash is not recommended as it contains a lower amount of fluoride to toothpaste – so in effect you are washing away a higher amount and replacing with a lower amount

Food and drink

• Best drinks are water and milk
  • Keep other drinks as special treats
  • Or only at mealtimes
  • Use a straw – bypasses the teeth
• Cheese neutralises mouth acid so a good snack
• Eating whole fruit is good as the citric acid and fructose are only released in the stomach.
  • However drinking juice/smoothies etc. is not good for teeth as the citric acid and fructose are already broken down and released in the mouth
  • Any fruit not in its original form (so juice, purees, dried) is not good for the teeth

Links and contacts

• Sheryll Jones, Oral health promoter from the Community Special Care dentistry team at King’s College Hospital.
  • Contact: kch-tr.oralhealthpromotion@nhs.net
  • https://www.kch.nhs.uk/services/services-a-to-z/community-special-care-dentistry/
• https://www.dentocare.co.uk/ sell Superbrush, Oranurse and mouth rests – strong foam block to keep the mouth open. If you google ‘mouth prop’ options come up including Amazon.