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Brush Bus Scheme History
543 Dental Centre and our involvement in The Brush Bus Programme
In July 2010 our Managing Director and Clinical Director at 543 Dental Centre attended a dental forum where the Brush Bus Programme was presented to local dental practices in Hull. It was stressed at this presentation how important it was that this programme should continue, but uncertainty remained regarding the securing of future funding. We recognised the value of this very worthwhile initiative and offered to help there and then!
For the past eighteen months we have been working closely with City Health Care Partnership to develop a “Pilot Study” of how public and private businesses can work together to achieve the same goal, this being to improve the oral health of children in Hull. Francis Askew Primary School was approached to see if they would consider taking part in the study and we are delighted to say they agreed. The children were taught the importance of healthy diets, effective tooth brushing and regular dental attendance and their parents were invited into school to have the opportunity to ask any questions they had regarding the programme. The teaching and support staff received training on cross infection issues.
In February 2011 the children at Francis Askew started the Brush Bus Programme and now they all brush their teeth each day, after lunch. Ruth Murray, the Head is extremely pleased with the way the programme has been incorporated into the school day, with very little disruption.
We felt it was important we had some baseline data regarding the health of the children’s teeth at the start of the programme so with parental consent, in March 2011 we gave every child a dental examination and this data has been recorded anonymously to protect the children’s identity. The examinations were repeated in September 2011 and early indications show that the Brush Bus Programme is having a positive effect on the children attending Francis Askew Primary. As a result of this very encouraging start, 543 Dental Centre, in partnership with Henry Schein Medical and Dental Supplies have agreed to fund twelve primary schools for the next two years.
The British Dental Association is very interested in the programme becoming a national initiative, but requires clinical evidence to prove the programme is effective.
With this in mind, 543 Dental Centre will provide a Dentist and a Dental Nurse to carry out dental examinations in the twelve schools they are supporting every six months for a period of two years so that the data can be collated and then presented to the appropriate agencies in due course. This will hopefully ensure the Brush Bus Programme will no longer run the risk of being unable to continue due to lack of local funding.
Everyone here at 543 Dental Centre is very excited about the Brush Bus Programme and we have been thinking of ways of how we can enhance it. After much thought and discussion we hit on the idea of developing an oral health website, aimed at children but which also has a section each for teachers and parents where they can access information to help with lessons or how they can help their child to have optimum oral health. This new site launches in the Spring 2012.