"Some six year olds have never seen a toothbrush"

[SuperGinger]

Just saw an article on the BBC website about this, very sad you need your teeth for the rest of your life and we are failing our children.

Why aren't they investing in children we are storing up so many problems for the future? Especially with poor diets many children have.

Access to a dentist should not be so hard.

@Catspyjamas17 then your parents are slightly neglectful then. I stand with my son even though he does it himself these days.

Yes this is a huge issue

I just went and had a google to check I was right in thinking it was all areas: it looks as though its specifically aimed at disadvantaged areas, so I guess our council decided there were enough deproved areas to roll it out universally. I wonder then if the older years (y3-y6) getting toothpaste etc is situational and because our school is a: small and b: has a lot of families in need. https://www.gov.wales/designed-smile-improving-childrens-dental-health

Christ, I hope you reported her to social services, that’s child neglect.

@DaveyJonesLocker have you tried to help the mum,Give her advice? Reading that makes me sad for the children.

I hope to God you reported to Children's Services. That is dreadful

We need to tackle the cause (neglect) rather than the consequences. But then again, that applies to the entire NHS really - far too little self care and over-reliance on "someone else" fixing the problems.

Dd got sent home with a toothbrush and Toothpaste about 2 months ago, We're in North Northumberland so not sure if it's school initiative or council.

Why are people so accepting of all this neglect?

😳

I hope this is either:

a) an unpleasant wind up, or
b) you've reported this shocking neglect to the relevant authorities.

We need both.

This is heartbreaking - so it’s your DIL or SIL who neglects her in this way? What do social services say?

This is clearly parental neglect and doesn’t apply to most children. This isn’t due to a national lack of toothbrush availability or a lack of nhs dentists.

I think because if you are a good parent who endeavours to put your children first without question, it’s probably difficult to understand that some parents simply don’t and that they don’t because, whilst they might love their DC in an abstract sort of way, they don’t have the emotional capacity to translate that love into making sure they prioritise their children over themselves. It’s easier to imagine these parents are all mentally ill or even that it’s the government’s fault.

But this has always existed. It is not new.
But those kids who have been neglected should still get access to dentists. Not being able to access a dentist is new.

My DH never brushed his teeth as a small child and was never taken to the dentist until the school intervened. The dentist repaired his teeth and the hygienist taught him how to brush his teeth.

You can say parents should do this, but if they don't do we just abandon these children? Because in the past we did not. We provided services to help make sure these children had as good teeth as possible in the circumstances.

And DHs parents were loving, fed him well, clothed him, played with him. But they seemed to have a blind spot when it came to dental and medical care, just saw it as unnecessary unless it was an emergency situation.

This is beyond depressing. And makes me very grateful for the ChildSmile programme in Scotland - not only do kids get given free toothbrushes and paste in playgroup/nursery as mentioned upthread but they’re available all over the place - at our local library, they gave them out at the covid vaccination centre, they have a box at our GP, etc. No doubt there will always be parents that don’t take them though.

My God please tell me social services got involved

You should report it to social services @DaveyJonesLocker

It would be my DIL if they had married.

Her school had a dentist go in so I asked then if they could take the state of her teeth any further, she wasn't allowed to discuss that with me.

SS just have me down as the interfering MIL. Damn right I'm interfering when a kid, any kid, doesn't need to be my GD is in pain.

My GDs bottom teeth

Yeah course! I've bought them supplies, I've cleaned, as have alot of family. It's incredibly strange. The whole family totally blitzed the house, within months it was back to where it started.

That's honestly horrendous. Social services are actively failing those children.

Having a look around on google Scotland was lagging a fair bit but Child Smile has helped. Similar in Wales too

www.scotsman.com/health/dental-health-young-scots-lags-behind-england-and-norway-612754

Of course we do, but more of the former means a lot less of the latter. The former is a lot cheaper and reduces pain, complications, expensive corrective treatment, etc.