Nurseries across Bradford and Airedale have been given the opportunity to sign up to a new scheme to help children and families look after their teeth.

Since March, 36 local nurseries have joined the ‘Bradford Babies Brush’ scheme which is being delivered by the Community Dental Service’s Oral Health Improvement team at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust (BDCFT).

Nurseries who sign up are given oral health training and guidance on how to start daily toothbrushing at their nursery. Childcare providers are given information on the best nutrition for young children and the harmful effects sugar has on teeth.

Over 52 childcare staff members attended the training and are now able to support parents in creating a good oral hygiene routine for their child.

The Oral Health Improvement team also provided toothbrushing equipment to the participating nurseries and offered evidence-based guidance to help them establish the toothbrushing scheme within their childcare setting.

Each nursery was encouraged to nominate an oral health champion to engage with families and communities across the district and ensure good oral health habits are formed at a young age.

Sharon Walker, oral health improvement lead at the Care Trust, said: “Targeting the early years like this plays an important part in helping address tooth decay in young children and teaching important life skills. It is almost always entirely preventable with appropriate interventions.”

A nursery nurse from the Ark Day nursery, Kimberley Wilson, said about the scheme: “We wanted to take part in the Bradford Babies Bru

sh campaign because knowing about oral health is important for our children. The children are really enjoying brushing their teeth, and we are promoting life skills as not all of our children brush at home.”

After their amazing work on this scheme, the Oral Health Improvement team have made it as finalists in the Clinical Dentistry Awards 2022 for Best Local Oral Health Initiative (North). The team will find out in September if they have won.

You can find out more about the team and their work on improving oral health across the district, visit the Oral Health Improvement page on the BDCFT website www.bdct.nhs.uk.