Calling all dental nurses!

This Smile Month, we are inviting you to help raise awareness around an issue that affects thousands of families but often goes unnoticed: the high sugar content in baby food pouches. [See article here]

As dental professionals, we’re often the first to spot the signs of sugar creeping into children’s diets. Early enamel erosion, tiny carious lesions in first molars, and parents genuinely confused as to how it’s happened when they’re “doing everything right”.

National Smile Month is an annual campaign organised by the Oral Health Foundation, aimed at raising awareness about the importance of good oral health by promoting the following four key messages:

Dental nurses with an oral health education qualification play a vital role in educating patients on the importance of oral health. The best way to utilise this qualification is by planning and carrying out oral health education sessions regularly. These can be one-on-one with patients in practice or in a group environment in the wider community. Regardless of the setting, these sessions require good organisation and planning to ensure a structured session is delivered with effective learning.  

In recent years, there has been a growing understanding of how oral health impacts general health. This includes its connection to mental health, which we will explore in this article. Mental health problems may occur in the short-term due to certain life events and circumstances or may form a long-term chronic condition. These can be equally distressing and impact day-to-day life.