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Oral health

Healthy Teeth, Happy Smiles – improving the oral health of Leicester

In Leicester, 37.8% of five-year-old children suffer from dental decay, which is significantly higher than the average in England. These issues are largely preventable. Dental problems can lead to:

  • Pain
  • Confidence issues
  • Speech difficulties
  • Challenges in eating or drinking
  • Increased school absences due to hospital extractions.

Healthy Teeth, Happy Smiles aims to improve the oral health of children and adults in Leicester, to reduce tooth decay and associated health issues by offering:

  • Oral health information for parents and parents-to-be
  • Training for health, education and care staff and volunteers
  • Support for dental practices, early years settings and pharmacies
  • Supervised toothbrushing training and free resources for nurseries, and schools
  • Loans of teaching aids and promotional materials.

Oral health for children

Establishing a good oral health routine in children sets them up not only to have healthy teeth and gums throughout life but also encourages habits that contribute to their overall wellbeing. By teaching the importance of regular brushing, flossing, and dental check-ups early on, we encourage children to take control of their oral health.

Learn how you can protect your child’s teeth.

Oral health for adults

Looking after your teeth and gums is important for maintaining good overall health. Creating a good oral health routine is easy and can prevent tooth decay and help you spot the signs of mouth cancer early.

Find out how you can maintain good oral health.

Get involved

Raising awareness helps people to understand how closely oral health is linked to overall health and wellbeing. Throughout the year, there are many annual oral health campaigns that you can get involved in too! Help us to build up awareness in our community, showing everyone how important it is to take care of our teeth and gums for a happy, healthy smile.

Find out how you can get involved throughout the year to promote good oral health.

Finding a dentist

If you’re looking for a dentist in your area, you can search for a dentist on the NHS find a dentist. website. This tool makes it easy to find a local dentist who can help keep your smile healthy.

Are you sugar smart?

Too much sugar is bad for your oral health as it can lead to the build-up of harmful fat on the inside that we cannot see and can result in painful tooth decay. In England, a child in England has a tooth removed in hospital every 10 minutes.

Learn how to be sugar smart and download the Food Scanner app.

Contact the oral health team

If you would like more information about Healthy Teeth, Happy Smiles please contact us. Our team is here to provide you with helpful resources and answer any questions you may have about maintaining good oral health.