Thursday 9 October 2025
Supervised Tooth Brushing Programme
Dear Parent/Carer,
Whittington Health’s Community Dental Services Oral Health Promotion along with Haringey Council Public Health Team is offering a new oral health improvement programme “Supervised Tooth-brushing” to targeted children in schools across Haringey. We will be adopting this programme in our Nursery.
The programme promotes routine tooth-brushing from a young age and aims to raise awareness about the importance of oral health and the benefits of early intervention. The programme will teach children good tooth-brushing behaviours and reinforce other key messages around healthy diet and visiting the dentist for prevention as part of their continuing dental care.
The impact of poor oral health has been shown to result in poor general health, together with:
- School absence because of sleepless nights due to toothache or visits to the dentist
- Potential reduced academic achievement
- Difficulty eating, sleeping, talking, and socialising due to pain
- Sepsis and discomfort
Supervised tooth brushing at school has been shown to be effective at improving oral health for children. We would like to invite your child to join in free tooth brushing with fluoride toothpaste, once a day at the school.
Each child taking part will receive free toothbrushes and toothpaste and your child will be brushing their own teeth under the supervision of the school staff. It is important to note that this is not intended to replace tooth brushing at home with you in the morning and last thing at night before bed. Brushing before bedtime is especially important, in order to prevent plaque and food particles staying in contact with the teeth at night.
If you would not like your child to take part in the tooth brushing programme then please let your child’s class teacher know. The programme will start after the October half term.
If you have any questions about the programme or would like more information, please contact the Oral Health Promotion Team using the details below.
Email: dania.castaner@nhs.net Telephone: 020 3224 4672
Yours Sincerely,
Rachna Joshi | Leader for Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
& Whittington Health Oral Health Promotion Team
