This information is provided by Oral Health Improvement Bury | The Bury Directory Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

The Brush Bus supervised toothbrushing scheme was launched in EYFS in order to increase exposure to fluoride among the 2-5 year old children in Bury. The Bury Oral Health Improvement Team facilitate daily supervised toothbrushing (STB) with a family fluoride toothpaste at targeted establishments, nurseries, playgroups and EYFS in schools via staff training, support, advice to parents and the provision of equipment and toothbrushing resources to prevent cross-contamination. Unfortunately, the funding has not been provided to include Childminders in the scheme in Bury.

All participating settings have found ways to incorporate toothbrushing into their daily routines and use it as part of the curriculum.

Fluoride toothpaste is an effective method of reducing tooth decay and its benefits can be maximized, if brushing with toothpaste is started as soon as the first tooth appears. At home children should be taught to brush their teeth at least twice a day, this should be done the last thing at night and one other time of the day. Toothbrushing should be supervised by an adult until a child is 7- 8 years old, use a family toothpaste containing (1,3450ppm - 1,450ppm) fluoride which is more effective for protecting teeth and will help to make the teeth stronger.

Good habits developed in early childhood can have a great impact on a child’s future health. The Brush Bus Supervised toothbrushing Scheme used in conjunction with the established Bury MBC Golden Apple Award Scheme in EYFS, could in time have a real impact on children’s oral health. A child's smile is a big part of how they view themselves, they will feel more confident if they are proud of it.

Supervised toothbrushing in EYFS supports toothbrushing at home. Sometimes parents struggle to brush young children’s teeth at home and often parents with children in settings where supervised brushing takes place, report that their children are much more enthusiastic about having their teeth brushed at home. Toothbrushing also becomes much less of a struggle. Additional feedback from a Nursery stated 'Children brush every day during group time sessions using the brush bus resources - OFSTED LOVED this'.

The aim is to improve children’s school readiness and give every child the Best Start in Life NHS England » Best Start in Life.

DfE statement:

“Early Years providers have a responsibility to promote the health of children in their setting, set out in the EYFS. Good oral health can form a part of this.”

The EYFS framework states that early years providers must promote good oral health of children who attend their setting. As part of Safeguarding and welfare the framework highlights that Supervised tooth brushing programmes have been found to prevent tooth decay by teaching children how to brush their teeth and encourage tooth brushing routines at home. Children also benefit from brushing their teeth with fluoride toothpaste once a day while at their early years setting. This is especially important for those children who may not regularly brush their teeth at home. Oral health - Help for early years providers - GOV.UK (education.gov.uk)

Implementing a daily supervised daily toothbrushing programme will help EYFS work towards the new requirement to promote good oral health.

To ensure daily supervised toothbrushing in EYFS is delivered safely and effectively, cross-infection control is of the highest priority. The Greater Manchester (GM) Training Hub has developed a free training package Oral Health – Greater Manchester Training Hub

This e-learning tool is intended to guide staff to deliver a safe effective Supervised Toothbrushing scheme, rather than implementing their own systems. It is compulsory that all EYFS Practitioners where STB takes place are required to complete this free, simple eLearning tool which provides PHE guidance, in-line with cross-infection procedures. The training package takes no longer than 30 minutes to complete, after a simple evaluation of knowledge gained, a certificate is accessible.

Parental consent must be obtained before supervised toothbrushing can be implemented.