The Community Dental service’s Oral Health Improvement team from Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust has won a prestigious award at the national Clinical Dentistry Awards 2022, for work they delivered to get nurseries toothbrushing during the pandemic.

The team were crowned the winners of the Best Local Oral Health Initiative North category for their activity to encourage young children to brush their teeth in nurseries across Bradford and Airedale.

Following a pilot during the pandemic, further funding was received to roll out the scheme, ‘Bradford Babies Brush’, to a further 36 local nurseries since March. The team has now trained over 52 childcare staff members who are now able to better support parents in creating a good oral hygiene routine for their child.

Nurseries who sign up are given toothbrushing equipment and offered guidance to help them to start daily toothbrushing at their nursery. They are also given information on the best nutrition for young children and the harmful effects of sugar on teeth.

Each nursery was encouraged to nominate an oral health champion to engage with families and communities across the district and ensure good oral health habits are formed at a young age.

Sharon Walker, Oral Health Improvement Lead at the Care Trust, said: “The team was so pleased to get recognition for the work we delivered in nurseries, to improve oral health and to support the teaching of life skills from an early age.

“We’re committed to helping communities address tooth decay in young children, which is almost always entirely preventable with appropriate intervention.”

You can find out more about the team and their work on improving oral health across the district, visit the Oral Health Improvement page on the BDCFT website www.bdct.nhs.uk.