Children’s dental health to benefit from C5 application

Children’s dental care in Guernsey is set to see long-term benefits from a new child dental health survey application developed for free by C5 Alliance.

The application will allow more robust surveys of children’s dental health to be undertaken across the island, improving data collection and allowing a focus on the health and treatment of pre-school children.

“The Children’s Dental Service was awarded the 2013 Insurance Corporation Healthcare Bursary for a project to introduce a tooth brushing programme in local pre-schools, following the success of similar initiatives in the UK. Part of this was to develop an electronic data collection and reporting programme to help us monitor the levels of dental disease in pre-school children and gauge the success of early intervention,” said Sarah Lyle, Head of The Children's Dental Service, part of Guernsey’s Health and Social Services Department (HSSD).

“The system used in the UK was outdated and not suited to our needs locally and so the best way forward was to develop a bespoke solution. C5 Alliance recognised the benefits of the project and agreed to take on the development on a fee-free basis, allowing us to reallocate budget from the bursary award into buying more items such as toothpaste and toothbrushes for pre-schools.”

The project was overseen by Matt Thornton, director and head of professional services at C5, with work undertaken by Tim Ogier and Michael Wade, graduate developers who joined C5 last year as part of its graduate developer academy.

“This was a hugely positive project for C5 and the outcome will bring many long term benefits to the Children’s Dental Service. It also served as a brilliant opportunity for our graduate developers to cut their teeth on an unusual and challenging piece of work,” said Mr Thornton.

“Our aim with the developer academy is to provide local talent with stimulating hands-on experience. Working in an area such as healthcare, with tangible benefits for the local community, has been a great way to do this and both Tim and Michael delivered an excellent standard of work on this project,” he said.

Mrs Lyle said that live data would begin soon and will contribute to improvements across several areas of the service.

“We are extremely pleased with the outcome and will use evidence gathered over time to assess changes in dental decay, evaluate treatment levels and plan service requirements. I was really impressed with the IT knowledge, professionalism and enthusiasm of C5’s graduates and their input was invaluable throughout the entire process.

“We are looking forward to gaining a clearer picture of the state of children’s dental health and further enhancing our service as a result.”

Insurance Corporation managing director, Glyn Smith, added: “Having been able to kick-start this fantastic project with our healthcare bursary, it is wonderful to see it take another step forward thanks to C5 Alliance. The Children’s Dental Service deserves much praise for their enthusiasm to further enhance their offering which will benefit many of our island’s youngsters.”