To think schools could do dental checks?

[cheminotte]

Just reading that poor dental health is linked to poverty and how many families struggle to find an NHS dentist.
Also read an article earlier this year about a boy in America who died of teeth decay as the infection spread. And recently heard that tooth decay is linked to heart disease.
Could schools do a dental check in reception like they do an eyesight and hearing test?

I remember my school dentist from 45 years ago, Mr Thompson. He was lovely and today I'm more inclined to make an appointment with the dentist than the hairdresser.

Most opticians seem to say from about 3.5

Ds1 was younger as his eye problems were picked up at about 2 years and 9 months when he started pre school

Hi OP. Yes up here we are a different country, we have our own parliament and make a lot of our own rules and legislation. Scotland is a far more left leaning and politically socialist country and that effects decisions. Our politicians and council and NHS decision-makers often take decisions on the basis that we should help those who need it the most. ( More than it seems to happen south of the border). We don't have rich, privileged Tories telling people it's their fault they are poor and should help themselves. Others may come on with other theories. Other supporting evidence for this ? See school meals, care for the elderly; homelessness policy; mitigation of the bedroom tax; student tuition. I'm really proud to be Scottish and I don't mind paying higher taxes to support these policies (which is what has to happen of course).

Hi Iamyourequal - I get that Scotland has devolved powers for health and education and I think it's great that these are being used to benefit everyone. But I'm confused with references to the West. Does the West have more of these initiatives than other parts of Scotland?

cheminotte I am in the West of Scotland and I certainly don’t see it as SNP dreamland as in the PP.

In terms of dentistry at school mine had teeth checked in p1 and that was it. They did toothbrushing and got toothpaste and brushes up to end of p2. Mine don’t like school dinners but from looking at what they offer now (a cold lunch 3 days a week and only a hot meal on 2) the universal free school dinners aren’t much shakes either. Free university tuition has led to universities offering less places to Scottish students because they get more money from English ones. I don’t know anyone who’s had “free personal care”. My grandparents had to pay. So on paper it might all look great but from where I am sitting it isn’t translating to any great shakes in reality.

Some people have already mentioned the Childsmile scheme in Scotland. It targets the schools in more deprived areas (not sure if all schools can sign up though). At my old school the children brushed teeth everyday in Nursery to P2 and there was talk about the practicalities of extending this. The children also had dental checks and flouride varnish applied (with parental consent). They also give out free toothbrushes and toothpaste. We were given some for our toddler at one of our check-ups (and a cup to discourage bottles for toddlers).

The impact of the Childsmile scheme was a huge reduction in tooth extractions in young children (a shocking problem). According to this article it saves the NHS £5 million a year: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-33052270

BakedBeans47 I'm not saying it's a dreamland but we are getting a much better deal than our English mumsnetters.
OP I don't think the West of scotland is vastly different policy wise for these things than the rest of Scotland. A lot of us live in this part so we are maybe just more likely to report what's happening here. You make a good point though - we also have a lot more of the most deprived areas and these sometimes get targeted funding.

I don't have a strong view on this, but I am concerned by the lack of expectations of parents to effectively care for and parent their children. As a result more and more being pushed onto schools (and the state more generally)- and parents are allowed to abdicate their responsibilities. Where does it end?

Surely taking your child to dentist, optician and so on is a parental responsibility. If you can't do any of these things, then I think this suggests a bigger problem with your parenting and/or organisational skills and perhaps more structured help is needed.

SockQueen we could claw make amazon, starbucks etc to pay the tax they ow that will pay for it..and some.

Sure, scrap fruit at break times or school breakfast clubs and do dental checks instead 😊

We've always declined the childsmile checks on the basis that they aren't required for us and it frees up time for children who need them. My DC have attended the dentist every six months since they were babies and didn't have teeth yet. They are 17 and 16 now and have never had any treatment including flouride varnishing. Our family dental appointment is about 10 minutes for us all We don't have anywhere near a perfect diet. They have sugar and fizzy juice. DH and I both had terrible teeth as children - extractions and fillings galore so we have made a real effort.

I don't think they do optician checks anymore though do they? DS1 has had glasses since he was 6 and we noticed he couldn't read the menu from the other side of the table in IKEA, that was the Saturday, he got an appointment at a High Street Optician for the Sunday and picked his glasses up on Monday. I couldn't fault the service.

Lots of parents don't take their DC to the dentist because they don't go themselves. It's a shame and it's not the children's fault. Yes, it shouldn't be the school's or Childsmile's or anyone other than the parents responsibility but if we can stop children having the misery and health implications of rotting teeth then I think we should do it.

I too am in the West Coast of Scotland... I wasn't aware of the vast differences nationwide.. until the Thread to be honest

I was always told by the optician (my own as I need to go every 6 months) that unless your child can really grasp the test and what it entails only then should they get one. My DD at 3 or 4 was not ready!

This is absolutely categorically not true.There are ways of checking the eyes and vision of children who are too small to grasp a "normal" test,and if there are any concerns or family history of eye problems earlier diagnosis is better.
But not all optoms are happy or confident to see small children,and not all Opticians practices want to see them - some won't see children under 5 .
Plenty will though - you just have to ask.

Mine wouldn't at the time. The school eye test showed nothing wrong with my DDs eyes in reception so when she started complaining a year and a half later on headaches I took her back. Nothing wrong with that. I followed advice infinite

*with headaches

We have a great service from Childsmile (as mentioned before). We are not a deprived area. All children are entitled to access/register with a dentist. However, this was rather annoying to discover at the time my eldest turned six months (with no teeth) and automatically got a dentist, because I was sitting on the waiting list for the waiting list to register with an nhs dentist and had been for two years.

A year later and all adults waiting were given a dentist too, but as a result of the huge numbers of patients on the books it meant that you were only allowed check ups every two years instead of six monthly (unless there was a problem). Thankfully, there are more dentists now. I still can’t register in my town, but I can see the same dentist in the nearest town.

Our school dinners are hot meals five days a week, but our DC still just opts for the cheese sandwich every day.

Homecare etc is an utter shambles due to the enormous elderly population and not enough people wanting to work in care homes or as home helps (but who can blame them, the time allocated to get everything done for the client in their home is far, far too little, but you can’t stay longer because you have more clients waiting).

I’m not aware of the west actually being better than the east, it’s just a joke. I’m from a small place, where the residents distinguish themselves as either residing in the east or in the west. West is Best is just what we say to wind up the Easties

Following advice is fine of course,ElseaLove, and you had some info about your daughters eyes and then went back when things altered,no probs with that.
But I do disagree with the advice as a general rule,it is harder to test littlies,and imho 3.5 is a good age to try for, but what you don't want is parents putting off a test when there's a good reason for doing one because they think nothing can be done before 5.Some children don't fully grasp the test and what it entails for years (my own DS was really pretty awful until he was perhaps 8 or 9 - he is significantly longsighted and has worn glasses since he was 3 ).In our area there are no school eye tests.