DentaltownUK June 2018 - 16

Brush your teeth, use a fluoride
toothpaste and avoid refined sugar. Simple
stuff, right? For our profession, this
couldn't be more basic. So why were
46,500 children admitted to hospital in
one year because of tooth decay? Clearly
we aren't getting through to the families
who need our help.
When you have the right knowledge,
it becomes simple to avoid dental disease.
There are no excuses and we need to make
this clear to patients. How often do you
hear patients say, 'It's in my genes, Doc.
My whole family have soft enamel'? Of
course, we know that it's rarely the genes
that are the problem. It's the fizzy pop.
What if we could get through to these
people? What if we could make them
understand that the power lies in their
hands and in their toothbrushes? How
many children could we save from an
unnecessary general anaesthetic?
The answer is 46,500, that number
that I quoted above. If 46,500 children are
admitted to hospital in a year for the
treatment of a preventable disease, then
surely we can prevent 46,500 cases. Our
target for hospital admissions caused by
tooth decay must be zero.
How are we going to do this? It's
certainly not going to be easy. You cannot
change people's behaviours overnight. But
you can chip, chip, chip away, sharing
positive messages that slowly filter
through.

The Online Dentist
That is why I created The Online
Dentist. Our aim is to empower families
to take control of their dental health.
With the right knowledge, anyone can
avoid dental disease.
We want to share positive health
messages with everyone so that families

16

JUNE 2018 // dentaltownuk.com

have the power.
The Online Dentist is a free
educational resource for the general
public. We have created articles, videos
and activities to teach the whole family
about how to care for their teeth. There is
information on dental health, dental
disease and dental treatments. There are
articles and activities for children that aim
to teach in a fun, accessible way.
In April 2017, we launched a dental
health syllabus for each school key stage,
along with a comprehensive set of school
resources. The syllabus tied in with the
syllabus set by the Department for
Education so that teachers could teach
about dental health alongside their
mandatory subjects.
We created worksheets, activities and
videos that are all free to access on our
website. The launch of the resources was
featured on BBC Breakfast and since then,
educational organisations have started to
promote the syllabus among teachers. It's
early days but the resources have been
extremely popular.
The Online Dentist is a member of
the NHS Information Standard. This is a
mark of quality from the NHS,
demonstrating to the public that our
information is trustworthy and based on
the best available evidence. The website
has been growing in popularity and we
now help thousands of people every
month with dental health advice. I'm
immensely proud of the project so far. But
we have a huge way to go.

How can you help?
I don't know-you tell me! We've had
several dentists contribute to the site so
far. If you have an idea for a resource or
article that you think would be helpful to
patients, please get in contact; I'm open to

all ideas-information, articles, advice,
anything that helps patients.
Dealing with current inequalities in
dental health is a huge challenge. If it was
easy, we would have already sorted it and I
wouldn't be sat here banging away at my
computer keys. But that's what makes it so
exciting.
Imagine the difference that we could
make to the thousands of children every
year who have a GA to rip out all of their
baby teeth.
Dentistry is all about people. That's
probably why you're a member of the
profession. You do it to help people. And
you do an amazing job! Every day you
solve people's problems. You get them out
of pain, you save their teeth, you give
them the confidence to smile.
Now let's think bigger. Let's go
beyond the four walls of our surgeries and
help everyone. ■

If you think you can help or
would like to be involved with
The Online Dentist project,
please contact via the website or email
andrew@online-dentist.co.uk.
https://online-dentist.co.uk http://www.dentaltownuk.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DentaltownUK June 2018
