A national supervised toothbrushing campaign has been launched in a bid to “revive” the country’s oral health.
The programme, in which children are encouraged to brush their teeth with a fluoride toothpaste, will take place in early years settings, including nurseries and schools.
While many welcomed the scheme, education leaders said that schools cannot be expected to “fix all of society’s ills” and that steps must be taken to prevent a shift of “what is ultimately a parental responsibility on to the shoulders of schools”.
The scheme, targeted at three to five-year-olds in England, was launched on Friday, with funding to be made available from April.
The initiative will be targeted at the most deprived areas of the country.
Official data shows as many as six in 10 children in some areas have rotting teeth by the age of five, with clear differences between poorer regions of England and the more affluent.
It is hoped that the initiative could save the NHS millions by reducing the number of children who need hospital care for rotten teeth.
Supervised toothbrushing is already available to 143,000 children across the country, according to figures published in the British Dental Journal.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it expects up to 600,000 children to take part in the supervised brushing.
The initiative, from DHSC and the Department for Education, will be backed by £11 million. Schools are able to voluntarily sign up to the scheme.
Health minister Stephen Kinnock said: “It is shocking that a third of five-year-olds in the most deprived areas have experience of tooth decay, something we know can have a lifelong impact on their health.
“It’s why we’re delivering supervised toothbrushing to young children and families who are most in need of support as part of our wider plans to revive the oral health of the nation.
“This includes providing 23 million free toothbrushes and toothpastes through our partnership with Colgate-Palmolive to reach up to 600,000 children each year.”
Early education minister Stephen Morgan, added: “This Government is working hard to break the unfair link between background and opportunity, to ensure tens of thousands more children are school ready every year.”
Eddie Crouch, chairman of the British Dental Association, said: “It’s rare to find something to smile about in dentistry these days.
“But supervised tooth-brushing is tried and tested policy that will save children from pain and our NHS a fortune.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “There is no doubt that there is a crisis in childhood dental health in this country and the Government are right to make it a priority.
“However, we cannot keep loading increasing expectations on schools.
“Nor can we keep looking to schools to fix all of society’s ills. Most people would see tooth-brushing as a basic part of parenting, and we must be careful not to shift what is ultimately a parental responsibility on to the shoulders of schools.
“The new expectations around breakfast clubs are already placing increasing demands in schools, there is only so much we can expect teachers and school staff to do.
“We would urge the Government to think further about how parents can be supported to look after their children’s oral health and to focus on rebuilding NHS dentistry.”