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Background: Inequalities in dental decay in young children persist, resulting in high admission rates for general anaesthetics for tooth extractions. Health visitors have the potential to improve dental attendance and oral health in families least likely to engage with dental services. There is little evidence on health visitor views on this., Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 17 health visitors working in both affluent and deprived areas in a single UK city. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, anonymized and analysed following a constructivist grounded theory approach., Results: Knowledge of oral health was high and health visitors requested oral health education specific to the communities they worked in. Health visitors reported effective, formal referral processes to other health services but not to primary NHS dental services even when dealing with infants in pain. Health visitors interviewed were largely unaware of specific NHS dental services which reduce barriers to dental care including interpreting services and dental services for children with additional needs., Conclusions: Health visitors interviewed were knowledgeable and enthusiastic about oral health but not about dental services. Inadequate links with NHS dental services may limit their effectiveness in oral health improvement and this needs to be addressed., (© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Data sourcesThe Cochrane Oral Health's Trials Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Medline, Embase, the US National Institutes of Health Trials Registry (ClinicalTrials.gov) and the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform databases.Study selectionRandomised controlled trials (cluster or parallel) evaluating school dental screening compared with no intervention or with one type of screening compared with another were included.Data extraction and synthesisTwo reviewers independently abstracted data and assessed risk of bias. Risk ratios were calculated for dichotomous outcomes, with data being pooled where appropriate. The GRADE approach was used to interpret findings.ResultsSix trials involving 19,498 children were included. Two were considered to be at low risk of bias, three at unclear risk and one at high risk. No conclusions could be made from four studies comparing traditional screening versus no screening because the evidence was inconsistent. Two trials evaluating criteria-based screening versus no screening suggested a possible benefit; RR = 1.07 (95% CI; 0.99-1.16). No difference was found when comparing criteria-based screening with traditional screening, RR = 1.01, (95% CI; 0.94-1.08). No trials reported on long-term follow-up or cost-effectiveness and adverse events.ConclusionsThe trials included in this review evaluated short-term effects of screening, assessing follow-up periods of three to eight months. We found very low certainty evidence that was insufficient to allow us to draw conclusions about whether there is a role for traditional school dental screening in improving dental attendance. For criteria-based screening, we found low-certainty evidence that it may improve dental attendance when compared to no screening. However, when compared to traditional screening there was no evidence of a difference in dental attendance (very low-certainty evidence).We found low-certainty evidence to conclude that personalised or specific referral letters improve dental attendance when compared to non-specific counterparts. We also found low-certainty evidence that screening supplemented with motivation (oral health education and offer of free treatment) improves dental attendance in comparison to screening alone.We did not find any trials addressing cost-effectiveness and adverse effects of school dental screening.

Background The 2013 Children's Dental Health survey is the fifth in a series of national surveys.Aims This paper describes children's reported use of dental services, their experience of receiving dental treatment and parental satisfaction with services.Methodology A representative sample of children (aged 5, 8, 12 and 15 years) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were invited to participate in dental examinations. Older children and all parents were invited to complete a questionnaire about oral health behaviours and attitudes.Results Over 80% of 12- and 15-year-olds reported attending for a check-up. According to parents, 9 in 10 children of all ages had visited a dentist in the last year and 9 in 10 parents reported they were satisfied with the last dental practice their child had visited. There was some variation by country with respect to children's experiences of fillings and extractions.Conclusions There has been little change in the reported attendance patterns of children since the 2003 survey. Family deprivation (measured by children's eligibility for free school meals) negatively influenced dental attendance for regular check-ups, attendance within the last 12 months and the likelihood of having experienced difficulties accessing NHS dental services for children.

Background The 2013 Children's Dental Health survey is the fifth in a series of national surveys.Aim To summarise key findings on oral health perceptions, oral symptoms, and the impacts of oral conditions on the daily life of children and their families.Methodology A representative sample of children (aged 5, 8 12 and 15 years) and their parents in England, Wales and Northern Ireland completed relevant questionnaires.Results Oral symptoms, even more profound ones such as toothache, were prevalent among all age groups. Overall, 58% of 12- and 45% of 15-year-olds reported at least one oral impact in the past three months. The most prevalent oral impact was feeling embarrassed to smile or laugh, followed by difficulty eating. These symptoms and oral impacts were disproportionately high among children eligible for free school meals. Furthermore, one fifth to one third of parents reported that their children's oral conditions had some impact on their family life.Conclusion Oral symptoms were common and oral conditions had a negative impact on the quality of life of large proportions of children. There were clear and marked socioeconomic inequalities, with considerably worse oral health perceptions and higher levels of oral impacts among the more deprived children.

Oral health is recognised as a fundamental contributor to general health. In many developing countries resources are scarce and access to oral healthcare is often limited, particularly in rural areas. An approach to solving the problem of providing oral healthcare in developing nations is the Basic Package of Oral Care (BPOC), which promotes the community-oriented promotion of oral health and affordable and effective interventions. The aim of this paper is to focus on one component of the BPOC, by presenting a model for the provision of a local training programme of oral urgent treatment (OUT), delivered by volunteers, in a region of North West Tanzania.