Oldham backs national campaign to promote good oral health.

An event for National Smile Month, attended by The Worshipful Mayor of Oldham, took place at Oldham Library encouraging residents to learn how to look after their oral health.

The event, organised by Bridgewater Community Health Care NHS Foundation Trust which runs the Right Start Children’s centres in Oldham and Oldham Council, gave out information and advice as well as giving away free toothbrushes and toothpaste.

The national campaign runs from May 13 to June 13 and aims to promote improving and maintaining a healthy mouth.

Oldham’s under-fives, in particular, have some of the worst tooth decay in the country and the council is calling for vital co-operative action to help stop this.

Oral Health Lead Practitioner, Michelle Clegg, said: “We have a few different events in Oldham coming up for National Smile Month to keep oral health on the agenda and give advice around brushing teeth, what drinks people are having and looking at how much sugar a family are having in general. We are giving tips to people on how they can deal with that on a day to day basis.

“We give advice for babies as early as 6-8 weeks old. People can sometimes overlook how important oral health is, for example thinking that milk teeth don’t matter when the opposite is true, it sets up oral health for life and has an impact on other health outcomes too.

“We encourage people to register with dentists as early as possible. We were involved in a Greater Manchester scheme called ‘Baby Teeth Do Matter’ that dealt with that subject and we have 12 dental practices in Oldham that are supporting that scheme and take on children from 0-5 so they are going from an early age to get advice and just get used to going. Ideally, going as a family is a gold standard, but it is important to get that regular routine going from an early age.”

The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘Swap Sugars and Snack Smarter’ and Oldham Council and Bridgewater are working with Change4Life to deliver Sugar Swaps’ advice to parents across Oldham.

Oldham has also set up the Supervised Brushing campaign in early years settings, school nurseries and reception classes across the borough where children take part in a ‘class brush’ with their teacher. 

Councillor Zhaid Chauhan, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, said: “Without good oral health, we are unable to communicate, eat and enjoy a variety of foods and socialise. This can affect our self-esteem, confidence, and readiness to learn – especially if you are a child.

“That is why it is incredibly important to have a healthy mouth as it aids to both our general health and wellbeing.

“With that in mind, we are hosting a variety of local events for this year’s national Smile

Month campaign to help reinforce our key messages around how you can improve and maintain your oral health - and how you can keep that all-important smile.”

The Worshipful Mayor of Oldham, Cllr Javid Iqbal, said: “I am delighted to have been invited to come along to find out more about the great work the Right Start Service provides to the local community. They provide a vital resource of support and advice to give children the best opportunities to enjoy a happy, healthy and safe childhood.”

The library event also had information about volunteering with Right Start as well as a chance to speak with individuals from the Health Visiting team.

Volunteer Co-ordinator, Alison Pywell, said: “We have a variety of volunteering opportunities right across the Bridgewater service. There are 16 children’s centres in Oldham and volunteer roles include admin and reception, Babbling Babies, Weigh and Play, Play and Learn, Stay and Play and assisting on home visits.

“Volunteers get a full induction which includes training in things like safeguarding, equality and diversity and health and safety as well as regular support and supervision. We are really friendly and supportive and you can learn some new skills while building your confidence. People who are interested can find more information through the Action Together website.”

Team Leader for Health Visitors in West Oldham, Amanda Yeoman, said: “We work with families from pre-birth to when they start reception. We do health and development checks and assessments, we support parenting, infant feeding, behaviour management, help parents who may be struggling with mental health issues, a whole host of things really. Anything we can do to get the baby off to the best start that we can. We signpost to other services when necessary and see families on a regular basis to help with what they need.

“The whole agenda is about readiness for school. One of the big issues currently is obesity. It is a massive issue in Oldham as well as nationally and it is on the increase. Within our sessions we encourage children to play outside, we talk about exercise and encourage the parents to go out walking with their babies and eat healthily. We also have our Healthy Start vouchers scheme where families can get free vouchers from us to help buy fruit, vegetables and plain milk as well as vitamins that we stock in the centres.”

For more information about Right Start visit www.oldham.gov.uk

If you want to find out more about the ‘Sugar Swaps Tool’ click here.

For more information about National Smile Month click here.