BSPD requests questions at Health & Social Care Select Committee panel enquiry
NewsPosted by: Dental Design 18th March 2024
In advance of the Health & Social Care Select Committee’s scheduled panel enquiry on Tuesday 19th March, BSPD’s President, Professor Paula Waterhouse has written to each of the 11 committee members, including the Chair, Steve Brine MP, laying out questions that should be put to the panel.
Here below is the open letter in full that has been issued to each member of the Health & Social Care Committee:
Dear Steve Brine MP
I write to you as the President of the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) www.bspd.co.uk regarding the Government’s dental recovery plan – and in light of the Health & Social Care Select Committee’s scheduled panel enquiry on Tuesday 19th March.
- Regarding the proposed mobile vans, are they mobile units able to deliver treatment – or simply vans delivering toothbrushes and toothpaste? If they are mobile units, where have they been moved from and where will the workforce come from?
- How were the locations of the mobile units decided? Please can you seek reassurance that the decision has been clinically led, with involvement of dental public health teams to ensure they will be located in areas of high need and low access, rather than positioning them in marginal Conservative seats?
- How will SmileForLife differ from the existing Smile4Life which appears to remain live on the NHSE website (https://www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/dentistry/smile4life/)?
- Why does the plan opt for fluoride varnish instead of supervised toothbrushing, when the latter has a stronger evidence base and would provide a greater return on investment? (NB: fluoride varnish provides only a modest and non-significant reduction in dental caries experience at a relatively high cost when delivered in a nursery setting twice a year from 3 years of age).
Yours sincerely, Professor Paula Waterhouse, President, BSPD
