Child toothcare in the UK

[GerbilsAteMyCat]

Hi folks,
Small question!
I am not from here but my dc are being raised in the UK.
We visit the dentist every 6 months and she checks the DC's teeth and leaves it at that. I asked what more we could do to help DS1's teeth as his adult ones are in. She suggested a fluoride mouth rinse after school but we work so DS is usually in an after school club.
My DM was reminding me that as kids we had our teeth cleaned and polished and had a fluoride treatment.
Is this done in the UK? There is no dental hygenist at my dental practice.
Thanks!

DC are 5 & 7.

I think its in the water here

dental care is appalling in the uk tbh.

if you take them privately to a dentist they probably have more preventative care options but you won't find it on the nhs.

My older dc have their teeth descaled and polished by the hygienist once a year. It is not something that is offered as part of the routine nhs check up and we pay private rates for it - same as an adult.

We don't have fluoride in the water (Scotland, it's different in different parts of the UK I think).

Ds1 has had fluoride varnish applied to his teeth at each dentist since he was about 5 I think, but this is part of a scheme due to the absolutely appalling state of children's teeth in this area. I don't think it's universally offered.

There is no fluoride in the water here either :(
I will investigate private dentists then. I have insurance through work and it's cheap enough for the dc as well.

My eldest has a fluoride gel applied to her teeth because her enamel is so poor.

Its an uphill battle trying to get any help, tbh, and I've had to look a lot of stuff up myself, and try to figure out the best care for her that I can.

i wish someone had done that kind of thing for my teeth as mine just really started falling apart in very early teens - up to that point i'd had perfect teeth. here there is the big 'brush your teeth, don't eat sugar, that's all it is about' approach when in reality teeth really vary and some will have really strong teeth and enamel and get away with murder on the oral hygene front and others will have very weak teeth prone to cavities, cracking and breaking.

i remember my sister breaking a molar biting a polo when we were kids. we brushed our teeth and went to the dentist every six months etc but just have really weak teeth. my teeth are/were really white and straight and grew in perfectly and i took good care of them but literally by adolescence they were suffering the kind of problems normally reserved for much later in life.

still you get what you pay for i guess and britain didn't get the reputation of having appalling teeth from nowhere.

I also take DD privately so she gets a hygienist appointment teeth are scaled and polished and the hygienist spends time explaining to DD how he old better clean her teeth.
My personal opinion is that NHS dentistry is mainly about treatment, if you want prevention you have to go privately for both children and adults.

i take mine to my private dentist but he does children on the nhs scheme free - so a compromise

they dont scale and polish childrens teeth here according to my dentist (Scotland). The 2 children (7 and 10) got fissure sealants on some of their molars yesterday and ds is prescribed a high fluoride toothpaste as he has bad enamel on his first adult molars (they grew that way)