Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase understanding of dental care among young people.

We are committed to improving the oral health of school children. As part of every child having the Best Start in Life, Public Health England (PHE) has established a Child Oral Health Improvement Programme Board with a substantial programme of work, working with others to improve children’s oral health.

As part of this programme of work, PHE has produced a toolkit to support local authorities (LAs) in their responsibility to improve dental health and reduce inequalities among children and young people in their area. The toolkit supports LAs to invest in programmes which have demonstrated improvement in children’s dental health such as targeted community-based fluoride varnish programmes, targeted nursery and school based tooth brushing programmes and water fluoridation.

More broadly, sugar consumption is the primary cause of tooth decay in children. The Change4Life Sugar Smart app launched in January 2016 provides parents with a tool to show how much total sugar is in every day food and drinks, to help them make healthier choices. Dental health professionals have also been provided with Change4Life toolkits to help them have conversations with parents about their children's oral health.