The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) have today launched two landmark resources designed to equip every professional working with children to help protect their oral health. These materials come at a time when tooth decay remains the leading cause of hospital admissions among children aged 5 to 9 in England, with nearly 34,000 children and young people admitted to hospital for removal of decayed teeth in the year ending March 2025 at a cost of over £51 million to the NHS.
Making Every Contact Count for Children’s Oral Health: A practical toolkit for professionals working across child health, alongside a step-by-step Mini Mouth Care Matters Implementation Guide, bring together the evidence, tools, and practical strategies that GPs, health visitors, school nurses, paediatricians, community teams, social care professionals, and early years and education staff need to make oral health part of routine care.
The launch responds to a challenge highlighted by the RCPCH State of Child Health 2026 report, published in July, which identified oral health as one of 12 indicators showing that progress on children’s health has stalled. The report warned that the UK risks raising “one of the unhealthiest generations of children in decades”. It noted that tooth decay remains the most common reason for hospital admission among children aged 5 to 9, and that children in the most deprived areas are more than twice as likely to have tooth decay as those in the most affluent areas.
RCPCH and BSPD developed the toolkit collaboratively, reflecting a shared commitment to improving children’s oral health outcomes, reducing inequalities, and strengthening interdisciplinary working across child health services. The content draws on expertise from paediatrics, dentistry, public health and safeguarding.
Poor oral health disproportionately affects children facing socioeconomic disadvantage, disability, and barriers to accessing care. Children in the most deprived communities are more than three times as likely to have teeth extracted in hospital as those in the least deprived areas. The toolkit and implementation guide have been designed to help close this gap, supporting inclusive and trauma-informed practice, and encouraging professionals to consider the broader social and environmental factors that influence children’s oral health.
Dr Oosh Devalia OBE, Past-President of BSPD, said: “It is a significant moment to see these two ‘powerhouses’ advocating for children’s and young people’s health coming together to deliver the first-ever oral health toolkit for non‑dental professionals. Our aim is to engage and support them in improving children’s oral health. Until now, there has been little practical guidance to help them engage with children’s oral health, and our aim is to support them in doing just that.
“As the founder and national lead for Mini Mouth Care Matters, I am looking forward to seeing the toolkit complement the essential training Mini MCM provides. Launching it with a clear implementation guide is also crucial. This will help “lift the toolkit off the page” and make it straightforward for paediatricians and other child health professionals, whatever their specialty, to look into their patients’ mouths with confidence and treat the whole child. It is a huge milestone for BSPD; we have been saying for some time that children’s oral health is everyone’s business.”
Dr Helen Stewart, Officer for Health Improvement, RCPCH, said: “Paediatricians are acutely aware of the importance of helping to protect children’s oral health. Tooth decay in children is almost always preventable, yet it remains highly prevalent with children living in the most deprived areas are significantly more likely to experience tooth decay. That is why our partnership with BSPD to engage the paediatric professional community in this area is so important. A growing body of evidence shows the effectiveness of brief oral health interventions delivered by non‑dental professionals, supervised toothbrushing programmes, and integrated care models. This toolkit brings that evidence together in a practical, accessible way to support professionals across child health”
Practical support across every setting
The implementation guide sets out a lighter four-step approach (Ask, Look, Rate, Signpost) for professionals working in primary care, health visiting, school nursing, community paediatrics, social care, early years, and specialist outpatient settings. Alongside this, a fuller eight-step framework supports implementation in paediatric wards and hospices. Both are designed to be used flexibly, with quick wins for teams starting today and clear pathways for those building sustained change.
The resources are complemented by:
- The Mini MCM e-learning module for all staff, available on the NHS Learning Hub and e-LfH
- Dedicated resources for special educational settings, aligned with the NHS England Clinical Standard for autistic children and young people and those with a learning disability
- Setting-specific tools for looked after children, Complications of Excess Weight clinics (CEW), and other high-risk groups
- Patient-facing materials including the Dental Passport, social stories, and Widgit symbol-supported guidance for children with SEND
The toolkit is a practical resource. It does not constitute clinical guidance or mandatory standards of care. It is designed to complement existing local and national guidance, professional judgement, and local pathways.
