Tories set plan for our teeth

EVERY child in Oldham would be given a dental check-up when they start school, the Tories will promise today.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said Labour’s “neglect” of preventive dentistry was “shameful” and blamed ministers for abolishing a requirement for examinations.

He will pledge to bring in a £17million programme of screening which would check the teeth of 680,000 children a year.

Two-thirds of schools no longer offer dental check-ups, including those in Oldham, the Tories said.

Guidance from the UK National Screening Committee said there was no evidence to support screening children.

In response to Department of Health advice in 2007, NHS Oldham looked at its dental screening programme and decided to use its resources to develop and improve oral health programmes and increase access to dental services.

Alan Higgins, Oldham’s director of public health, said: “We are fully committed to ensuring that everyone in Oldham has access to the very best dental services, and so we still carry out surveys of local children in different age groups to assess their dental health and are continually working to improve local dental services.

“This includes employing more dentists in Oldham and supporting existing dentists to expand and improve, employing an oral health improvement team, who provide oral health advice tailored to the needs of families.

“There are also a number of initiatives to improve oral health in Oldham that involve and link with schools, including The Toothfriendly Partnership Award.”

The Conservatives will also say taxpayer-trained dentists would work for the NHS for at least five years, restore access to an NHS dentist for the million patients who have lost it and create new incentives for dentists to spend more time on preventive dental care, improving oral health and reducing long-term costs.

Mr Lansley said: “This Labour Government is leaving a terrible dental legacy which will be difficult to fix. Over a million people have lost their NHS dentist in just three years and dentists are fed-up with the flawed system of perverse incentives that Labour have introduced.

“That’s why I am announcing today that a Conservative Government will immediately cut waste and bureaucracy and restore access to an NHS dentist to the million who have lost one under Labour.

“And we will make preventive treatment a real priority because we urgently need to improve our nation’s dental health.

“Our plans will create real incentives for dentists to help people avoid tooth decay, so that we can cut the shocking rise in the number of people needing to have their teeth pulled out.”

l Anyone looking for an NHS dentist in Oldham, can contact NHS Oldham’s dental line on 0161 622 6508 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday or log on to www.nhs.uk