A new report from the College of General Dentistry, with support from Haleon, a world-leading consumer health company and one of the world’s largest providers of specialist oral health products including Sensodyne and Corsodyl, uncovers oral health professionals’ recommendations on how to best improve the provision of preventative oral healthcare*.
Capturing insights from oral health professionals** across the UK in focus groups, the latest report developed by the College of General Dentistry and Haleon, offers insight-driven recommendations on how to tackle the gap between the intentions of oral health professionals to provide preventative oral healthcare, and the practical delivery of this care.
The research found that oral health professionals seek redesigned NHS contracts to allow for more time and financial support in giving preventative oral care advice. It also calls for more resources to provide consistent and straightforward nationwide preventative oral healthcare education, to improve knowledge about healthy oral health habits, while tackling misinformation from sources such as social media.
Some of the other solutions include:
- Working with Government to support updating the Delivering Better Oral Health Toolkit to be simpler and more user-friendly.
- A national communications campaign to tackle misinformation surrounding oral care.
- Utilising digital communications streams such as Apps and video streaming platforms.
- Supporting the curation of a Government consumer facing Delivering Better Oral Health toolkit, providing insight-led recommendations.
- Encouraging businesses to ensure dental cover is included in their employee assistance programmes,
- Supporting professional development with the provisions of preventative care focused continuous professional development (CPD),
- Celebrating professionals such as Dental Hygienists through the mainstream media.
- Working with non-dental health professionals such as health visitors and midwives to inform them of the benefits of preventative oral care.
Bas Vorsteveld, Vice President and General Manager Great Britain and Ireland, Haleon, commented: “With a new Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street, our findings could not come at a more pivotal time for the future of dentistry in the UK. Working alongside the College of General Dentistry, we outline the key opportunities, our jointly developed solutions to safeguard the future of preventative oral care provisions for UK consumers and oral health professionals alike.
“We welcome the new Labour government’s plan to rescue the UK’s dental sector, but we urge them to go further and make NHS contracts fit for purpose by prioritising prevention. Only by working alongside the profession and industry can the new government make the step-change that UK dentistry clearly needs.”
The report also highlighted wider societal barriers to improving preventative oral care, such as competing narratives around oral health, diet and appearance from social media; the erosion of long-term patient relationships; a continuing professional skew in some dental practices towards clinical treatments and a tendency in the wider health care community to leave simple oral health advice messages to the professionals.
Roshni Karia, President at the College of General Dentistry, said: “Our focus groups found that many dentists may feel that they are conducting a lonely battle against entrenched patient habits around oral health care and doing so within NHS contracts, which are unfavourable to providing adequate preventative advice. Our work with Haleon highlights the need to take action to support oral health professionals in a real time of need.”
The Dental Health Barometer was first launched in November 2023 and began with a survey of 2,000 UK consumers and 505 dental professionals and consumers. The survey highlighted that while 87% of dental professionals believed that preventative action on oral care is beneficial for patients and 49% of consumers agreed, both audiences saw a great deal of room for improvement in delivering it.
As a global consumer health company, Haleon is dedicated to delivering better health with humanity, including through impactful collaborations. Haleon and the College of General Dentistry remain committed to exploring the solutions and working with stakeholders to ensure preventative oral care is provided across the UK.
Read the report here.
*Preventative Care definition Preventative care is defined as proactive dental care and advice that helps a patient to take action to maintain a healthy mouth, protecting against tooth decay, gum disease and more serious issues such as tooth loss and negative impacts on general health. **Focus Group Participants
- Great Torrington, Devon (8 participants)
- Martock, Somerset (10 participants)
- Swansea, South Wales (7 participants)
- Stanley, County Durham (8 participants)
- Canterbury, Kent (14 participants)
- Glasgow, Scotland (8 participants)
- Rochdale, Lancashire (7 participants)
- Downpatrick, Northern Ireland (15 participants)
