Nurseries to supervise children brushing teeth.

[AnyoneForTardis]

sorry if this has been discussed, cant find a thread anywhere about it.

heard on news this morn.

children with bad oral hygiene, so nurseries are being asked to have some sort of teeth brushing lessons type thing.

Is this the nanny state again releieving yet more responsibility for the people (parents) who are supposed to be doing this?

why nurseries?

its basic logic and common sense for a parent to teach/help their young'un to clean their teeth, isn't it?

I have looked up and down the thread but can't see one Buck, I had a bit of a google myself.
seems like it may be in certain areas where the tooth decay is the worst.

www.bda.org/news-centre/press-releases/47357-bda-welcomes-new-guidance-on-preventing-tooth-decay-in-children.aspx

Imagine a class of 30 with only one teacher. While he/she is supervising the teeth cleaner for 2 minutes what are the rest of the class doing for an hour?

Wouldn't they make it fun, with a game / song and dance and get a bunch to do it together?

I've been on school camping trips where they have done the same.

But did you have to fit maths, literacy, phonics, science, music, pe etc in in 5 hours as well?

Surely though they should look at why it needs doing as opposed to just doing it?

It's like all these things that are instigated. Everyone is suddenly thrilled for all the worse off children or how it benefits them on some way and fails to realise it doesn't remotely solve the problem.

Why do we need schools and nurseries to do it? A dress the reasons such as poor education or lack.of accessible support. Sanctions for parents who are deliberately neglectful. Why are waged so low people can't afford to survive why are companies so appalling in treatment of staff that the hours people have to work don't allow time to do these things. Do teachers/care givers meed more authority to be able approach parents they feel need talking to without being restricted by regulations stating you can't offend or single out?

Taking over does not address why it was needed in the first place

I doubt they want to solve it, they want a quick fix that looks like they are dealing with a problem, but costs nothing.

IFor childcare situations in which children are served breakfast or dinner I could see this being a sensible addition as those are situations where homebased brushing would not be as good a fit. But otherwise I don't really see how this will change habits. There's not that much point just doing it for the nursery years is there?

My dentist says children need their back teeth brushing by an adult (not just supervision) until they are 7 or 8. If this stops when they get to reception I can't see a wholesale change in attitudes towards teeth rushing changing. In fact it could dis-incentivise a few parents who would otherwise have taken the responsibility on.

I would have thought talking to children about the need to brush teeth and providing sufficient resources for families would be more supportive and engage families in taking responsibility, which is surely the way to get long term change?

I have been really annoyed at how health checks in school effectively disenfranchise parents rather than engaging them. My instinct is that I t's a really poor approach - a quick fix to find the worse cases but in a way that undermines the larger goal of having people make informed choice that keep them (or their children) healthier more generally.

Gosh.. just logged in and this thread has snowballed!

I understand the parents (all responsible here on mn) saying they think its a good idea and stuff, but you also instill it at home don't you?

No its not right that neglected kids health suffers, but as some posters say instead of giving the schools/nurseries yet more responsibilities why aren't the neglectful paerents being investigated/helped etc?

and as another poster said, I only brush my teeth twice a day, always have, morning and evening.

They did it at schools in the 70's, it's a good thing imo. I remember walking round with a red moth because of the disclosing tablets we were given

I remember the nit nurse in the 70s. She looked in your hair and checked feet for verrucas.
Was there uproar about that at the time?

"They did it at schools in the 70's, it's a good thing imo. I remember walking round with a red moth because of the disclosing tablets we were given"

What, every day? You're talking about 40 years ago. Are you sure you're not thinking of a one-off occasion?

Nit nurses visiting once in a while to check hair is a totally different proposition from hard-pressed teachers squeezing it into an already packed day.

We had the nit nurse in once a year when I was at promary(30+ years ago) and a dental nurse in with disclosing tablets once in lower juniors.

Once. Not every day with classes of children.

People seem unable to grasp the logistics of this?! It would be difficult for a class teacher to organise this, let alone very time consuming and downright impossible to check they have all cleaned them properly?!

We had our own toothbrushes that were kept at school which we used after lunch.

Yes. And guess who'd then get the blame for tooth decay in children?

This is a ridiculous idea. Parents are responsible for their children's healthy teeth, not schools. Asking schools to step in just makes some parents assume they can take even less ownership of their kids' welfare than they do already.

Nit nurse came once a term.

Actually it wasn't a random nit nurse, it was our school nurse who checked once a term.

Maybe, diazepam, but I'm willing to bet that the health and hygiene expectations for storing those toothbrushes are way higher than 40 years ago. Not to mention the expectations for teachers to cram a million more things in to the daily routine than before.

YY Clam

Can you imagine storing 30 toothbrushes in each classroom-with 30 different toothpastes as they probably would want their own. Supervising 30 six year olds squeezing paste onto brushes and making sure they brushed the back ones properly?!

Is this toothbrushing to be done at the sink that we wash up the paint brushes in, or the basin next to the toilets, where small children have missed their aim and the stench of stale wee and fresh poo is overpowering?

Not all parents wash their teeth properly. I think it's a great idea if it can be made into a fun activity that encourages good oral hygiene. Sometimes it's far easier for another adult, especially one that a child trusts, to teach basic skills. The children will be more receptive and hopefully learn to independently wash their teeth from a young age.

Nothing about this sounds 'fun' to me.

Sadly, I can see my management loving this. They will probably add another objective to my performance management; any of my children needing fillings within the twelve month period following them being in my class, I will fail to meet my targets and my pay will be docked accordingly.

"Sometimes it's far easier for another adult .... to teach basic skills."

No. It is a PARENT'S job, not a teacher's. Ffs, why not hand over the baby in the maternity wing and be done with it?

No. It is a PARENT'S job, not a teacher's. Ffs, why not hand over the baby in the maternity wing and be done with it?

Agreed.

People expect far to much of teachers and nursery workers. When they expect it to be done I don't know. How about we scrap education altogether and they can just focus on the basics. Kids can leave thick as pig shit but least they will have sparkly teeth. He'll let's go the whole hog and brush their hair, de louse and get them up in the morning so they can take responsibility all over again