Oral Health

At Sticky Fingers Pre-school, we promote oral hygiene through teaching and building independence to look after their own self-care, encouraging healthy eating and opportunities for the children to take part in tooth brushing daily and half termly celebrations for those children who are 'tooth brushing champions.'

We also provide guidance for our families to support the children in the home environment to ensure consistency between home and school including promoting tooth brushing, recognising the importance of children stopping using bottles and dummies from 1 years old and sharing government recommendations and advice from the NHS.

We offer support to our families to create better outcomes not only for dental health, but also for their children's speech, language and communication development.

Our Oral Health policy

Our Top Tips for a Healthy Mouth

🦷Say 'Bye Bye' to bottles!

Introduce drinking from an open topped cup from 6 months and stop bottle feeding by 1 year
Do not put sweet drinks (including fruit juice) into bottles

🦷 Ditch the dummy!

The NHS recommends weaning babies off the dummy when they are between 6 and 12 months old.
Encourage them to remove the dummy as much as possible during the day to develop mouth muscles, especially when speaking
Limit dummy use to key times like bedtime or when they’re ill.
Be consistent and be strong - there may be tricky moments, but it will pass.

🦷Regular tooth brushing

Encourage your child to brush their teeth twice a day for 2 minutes
Make tooth brushing fun - there are lots of free apps to support this
Encourage them to spit, not rinse after brushing

🦷Visit the dentist!

Take children to the dentist as soon as the first baby tooth shows in the mouth
Take your child regularly, not just when they are in pain
Ask your dentist for fluoride varnish for added protection from tooth decay (from 3 years+)
Find a Local dentist - www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist/
Need urgent dental care - Call 111

🦷Useful links