Dental Epidemiology Programmes
The directions to PCTs on the Dental Public Health regulations will be published shortly, in the meantime access the:
National Protocol for the study of 12 year old children 2008/09
National Dental Epidemiology Programme for England
Delivering better oral health – embedding prevention in NHS practice (September 2008)
The series of four events was a joint venture between the DH, Colgate and NHS PCC to help PCTs apply the new evidence-based toolkit 'Delivering Better Oral Health in Practice' and to develop commissioning strategies for prevention. The forums provided advice and examples of best practice on how to use the guidance at every level from commissioning to delivery of primary dental care services.
Choose from the individual presentations:
05/02/08: DH guidance on fluoridation of drinking water
Guidance in the form of a letter from Chief Dental Officer, Barry Cockcroft, has gone to SHAs and PCTs. It covers the legislative framework, the requirement for PCTs to assess the oral health needs of their population and good practices on the conduct of consultations on new fluoridation schemes (or changes in existing schemes).
Click here to read the guidance in full.
18/12/07: Delivering better oral health preventive toolkit - now available on CD Rom
The preventive toolkit launched by Barry Cockcroft in September (see notice below: 26/9 - New Guidance for NHS Practices) is now available in CD Rom format. A hard copy has been distributed to all NHS dental practices in England and represents the most up to date information available on effective preventive care at a practice level. It will play a key part in helping to reduce oral health inequalities. To obtain one or more copies of the CD, email julia.battersby@pcc.nhs.uk
To access the guidance on the DH website, click here.
28/11/07: Valuing people's oral health - best practice guidance for improving oral health in disables children and adults
This document builds on the principles within Choosing Better Oral Health and uses the evidence-based approach within Delivering Better Oral Health as a guide to assist all who provide and commission dental services for people with disabilities.
Click here to read the guidance in full.
(13/11) Commissioning for Better Oral Health Forums 2007
Three 'Commissioning for Better Oral Health' forums took place during the course of February and July 2007. For more details and the presentations in full, click here.
(13/11) Commissioning For Better Oral Health Reference Group
A new reference group has been set up to consider a range of strategic and practical issues around commissioning for better oral health. To read the terms of reference, click here.
(13/11) Sample Oral Health Strategies
To see sample oral health strategies by Oldham PCT, click here
To see a sample oral health stragegy by Salford PCT, click here
(13/11) Dental public health in the new commissioning world - recent presentations
(26/9) New Guidance for NHS Practices
The Chief Dental Officer for England, Barry Cockcroft has launched unique guidance for NHS dental practices and PCTs on evidence-based prevention.
The guidance - produced by a group of experts in the field of preventive dentistry - is the most up to date information available on effective preventive care at a practice level. It will play a key part in helping to reduce oral health inequalities.
To read the guidance, click here.
Smokefree and smiling: helping dental patients to quit tobacco
This document contains smoking cessation guidance for members of primary care dental teams.
Dental teams are in a unique position to provide opportunistic advice to a large number of 'healthy' people who may be using tobacco and who need professional support to stop but may not be in contact with any other part of the NHS. PCTs are therefore advised to take full account of the potential that members of dental teams have to contribute to their NHS Stop Smoking Services by offering appropriate cessation training and establishing local systems of referral.
In order to support this, a training programme, Standard for Training in Smoking Cessation Treatments, has been produced by NICE specifically for dental teams and is being distributed to Postgraduate Dental Deans and NHS Stop Smoking Services. Guidance to general dental practitioners on the contribution that dental teams can make to help patients quit smoking can be found at the DH site
Oral Health Needs Assessment Toolkit
The Oral Health Needs Assessment (OHNA) Toolkit is designed to assist PCTs in designing and carrying out oral health needs assessment in order to inform their commissioning decisions for dental services.
Choosing Better Oral Health..
Acting Chief Dental Officer Barry Cockcroft launched the Oral Health Plan for England on November 15th. Entitled Choosing Better Oral Health, the plan supports the new contracts for dentists in promoting preventive oral care, and will help PCTs to target poor oral health across the country. Included in the plan are a number of measures that PCTs can take to improve the oral health within their communities.
Fluoridation Guidance
A letter from the Chief Dental Officer outlines guidance explaining why fluoridation offers PCTs/SHAs a realistic option of reducing health inequalities, the new legislative framework governing the consultations and the technical and legal issues that need to be addressed by SHAs.