Birth to 5 Years

9. Oral Health

If you need advice on oral health for your baby, speak to your midwife or health visitor at your local Children's Centres.

They can give advice on:

  • introducing a good toothbrushing routine as soon as the first tooth appears
  • using an open or free flow feeder cup, giving only plain milk or water
  • weaning onto a healthy diet
  • dental attendance from an early age

Key oral health messages for keeping teeth and gums healthy:

  • Cut down on sugar and keep all foods and drinks that have added sugar to mealtimes only
  • Brush at least twice a day – last thing at night before bed and on one other occasion using fluoride toothpaste containing at least 1350ppmF and after brushing do not rinse
  • Visit the dentist as often as recommended and take children along from an early age

You can buy toothbrushes and toothpaste at your local children’s centre, three products for just £1.50 (one item must be fluoride toothpaste). Free-flow feeder cups are also available to buy for £1.20.

Online help:

Videos:

Online learning packages:

The healthy smiles, health bodies trainer’s toolkit

The toolkit is a training programme using the ‘train the trainer’ model for community-facing workforces, organisations and volunteer groups who have direct contact with Oldham residents, especially families with young children under five. It will provide people with the knowledge and skills to deliver evidenced based oral health messages.

The Greater Manchester Training Hub has developed this oral health training for those working with young children, delivered in short and easy to understand training videos each of which takes no longer than 30 minutes to complete. Certificate received on completion of the assessment.

The Greater Manchester Training Hub has developed this training material intended for early years and education staff who are working with their local health teams to deliver a supervised toothbrushing programme. All three training videos take less than 30 minutes to watch, and certificate received on completion of feedback.