Dental Hygiene Needs To Be Tackled At A Very Early Stage in Children’s Education

The situation with regard to dental health care at primary school level is very unsatisfactory. There is no programme of dental hygiene at all for younger children which is a very short sighted approach by the government. There is a check when children get to 6th class but in the opinion of many professionals in the field that is far too late. There many be savings now but down the road it will cost huge money if children are not well educated on dental hygiene from a young age. Simple things like proper brushing of their their teeth and other issues like diet and how that affect their dental health should be given to children from a very early age. I am aware of some local courses for younger children that are being organized by dental professionals on their own initiative but frequently the schools and crèche facilities do not have the money to even pay the basic cost of these sessions. The government have almost totally withdrawn from any role in dental hygiene education for children and I am calling on them to review that stance.