Agenda item
Dental Health Presentation
The committee will receive a presentation from Imran Choudhury (Acting Director of Public Health).
Minutes:
The committee received a presentation from Imran Choudhury (Acting Director of Public Health) providing an overview on plans for improving oral health in Brent. The oral health of children under 5 years old had been identified as a key issue for Brent via the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and this was reflected in Brent’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The most recent survey, covering the period 2007 to 2008, found that five year olds in Brent had the worst oral health in England; 44 per cent had tooth decay and the incidence of treatment was below the national average. The significance of poor oral health in children was emphasised; it was a common cause of school absence and hospital admission for children and was an indicator of poor oral health in adulthood. A Brent Oral Health Plan was currently being developed which would fit in with the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The Plan would include various measures to increase earlier exposure to regular brushing with fluoride toothpaste, enhanced working with the local dental community, and training of all frontline staff to encourage best practice. Use would also be made of two posts created as part of the transition of public health to the council which focussed on early years and schools respectively. Imran Choudhury concluded by noting that it would be important to have long-term political support to address this issue.
Several queries were raised by the committee in the subsequent discussion. Further details were sought of the Brent Oral Health Plan and further comment requested on the reasons for Brent’s high incidence of poor oral health in children. It was queried whether the water in Brent was fluoride treated. The committee also noted that the two public health posts referred to were currently fixed term positions and queried whether there was a commitment for these to be extended or made permanent posts. Members emphasised the importance of ensuring that hard to reach groups and communities were considered, noting that information should be provided in a variety of languages and that schools for children with disabilities should be targeted. It was recognised that this would have a cost implication but members noted the value of such preventative work in tackling the issue. It was further noted that preventative action should be key to Brent’s response and that links with Children’s Centres, the Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) Sector and to existing campaigns such as those on nutrition, should be key to the implementation of the Brent Oral Health Plan.
In response to the queries raised, Imran Choudhury noted that the water in Brent was not treated with fluoride and advised that there were a number of well known factors which contributed to poor oral health in children; these included poor diet and a lack of regular brushing. Poverty and a highly transient population were also highlighted as key factors. Whilst other boroughs had similar drivers, the impact of these were often successfully mitigated by good oral health promotion programmes. It was anticipated that the Brent Oral Health Plan would be completed by September 2013. Imran Choudhury agreed that it was essential that the proposed interventions fed into the existing work that was taking place across the council and its partners. With regard to the two public health posts, it would be desirable for these to continue but a decision had been taken to review the viability of the posts towards the end of the financial year. Members requested that an update be provided on these posts in due course.
A member of the public, speaking as both a school governor and local dental practice owner, explained that at present due to location-specific budgets, it was not possible for NHS dentists to carry out dental checks in schools. He further explained that in his experience, language barriers and ignorance of the facilities that could be accessed free of charge, were both key difficulties.
RESOLVED:
(i) that the presentation be noted;
(ii) that the proposal that the NHS make such changes as required to facilitate and enable NHS dentists to carry out dental checks within schools be put to the Brent Health and Wellbeing Board and Clinical Commissioning Group.