There's a climate change in preventive dentistry...

Now, more than ever, is preventive dentistry – or oral health promotion as those who see the glass half-full may say – the key to a successful practice.

The DoH's Delivering Better Oral Health, an evidence-based toolkit is in its second phase, having been updated and republished last summer. And, the dental team is all now GDC registered. A nod to the whole team's professional standing, one hopes.

Professor Jimmy Steele's recent review into NHS dentistry would have it that prevention and quality of care is the way forward, having had a dental profession brought up on a ‘diet of high caries and low expectation'. 

More importantly, practices up and down the country are making this – preventive dentistry – the emphasis of their dental care which suggests, perhaps, an evolution of high street dentistry. Slowly but surely, the wheels of change are motoring in the right direction for patients as much as for the whole of the dental team.

The team now need to work together to educate patients – especially children – in:
• the importance of excellent oral health care
• prevention of gum disease
• the effects of smoking and alcohol
• a healthy diet

Here, at www.preventivedentistry.co.uk we want to deliver the best in oral health news, scientific breakthroughs and research as well as provide a forum for all those clinicians and members of the dental team with an interest in preventive dentistry.

The next issue of Preventive Dentistry magazine – out mid-March – includes:
• A profile of our award-winning Preventive Practice of the Year 2009 – Young's Dental in East Yorkshire. Read how they do it and do it well
• A profile of dental therapist KIra Stearns who talks about the first ever dental therapists vocational training scheme.
• Comment from hygienist Jan Baxendale, one of the first to set up her own practice
• Advice from the experts at Denplan on how to make prevention child's play for the younger patients
• Good practice advice from Dr Cheryl Butz, instrumental in setting up Toothbeary, the children-only dental practice in south-west London
• A look at alcohol dependence and recreational drug taking associated with poor dental health and increased plaque levels, by Dr Graham Cope, a clinical chemist and honorary senior research fellow at the University of Birmingham
• Two hours of verifiable CPD.

Please do send in feedback either via our forum or email julie.bissett@fmc.co.uk.