Smile bright! Dental programme celebrates award success

Friday 24 November 2017

It started with a talk to just 30 nursery school children. Now, five years later, the two dental colleagues behind that presentation have just been given a prestigious award for helping thousands of children brush more healthily and smile more brightly.

Dental hygienist Caroline Wetherall and dentist Sarah Pollard have received the Best Community Initiative accolade at the Oral Health Awards 2017 for Super Smiles, their dental programme designed to educate and improve the oral health of children across 16 schools.

The two ladies were first approached by a teacher at St Clement's nursery who asked them to speak about oral hygiene. After realising that a number of children suffered from tooth decay, and that there was no preventive programme in the island, they decided to start one to tackle the issue.

Pictured: The Super Smiles pair say they're all about "prevention, healthy, happy smiling children, and giving a skill for life."

Ms Wetherall told Express: "We needed a programme. It is not right that young children have decay. Usually when they have decay, they also get toothache and other symptoms so they are not functioning properly. We thought if we educated them, we could try and prevent them from getting decay."

The dental duo soon set up a Dental Health Education Programme to educate and improve the oral health of children in Jersey. They also introduced a daily tooth brushing programme into local preschool and primary school settings. They bring toothbrushes, toothpaste and brush racks to the schools and replace the items every term. The children are also given a home pack including a toothbrush and hourglass - as well as plenty of advice to ensure that children can tend to their gnashers correctly.

The Super Smiles team are also regulars at roadshows to pass on healthy eating tips and motivational goodie bags.

Pictured: Kids practice their newfound brushing skills.

But what started as a class of 30 quickly grew into something bigger. This year, the oral health champions have visited 16 schools and spread the word of good toothbrushing to over 1,000 pupils - from nursery to Year 6. "The feedback has been amazing. At first, we were just slowly expanding to see how we got on but then it spiralled!" Ms Wetherall said.

Both volunteers on the programme, the two ladies raised funds to pay for toothbrushes and toothpaste through donations from charitable foundations and by making mouthguards for children and adults.

Thanks to a recent donation from the One Foundation and the Bosdet Foundation, they were recently able to hire a full-time health educator, Bernadette Hilditch, who started in October. Her presence will help grow the programme even further - perhaps to the point where it is available to all schools in the island, as Ms Wetherall wishes. 

Pictured: Bernadette, the newest member of the team.

That hard work was recognised when Super Smiles won the ‘Best Community Initiative‘ at the inaugural Oral Health Awards 2017 in London.

As part of their bid to convince judges, Ms Wetherall and Ms Pollard produced a series of leaflets from children and compiled comments from people whose children benefited from the programme. Event organisers described the oral hygiene team as "well-deserved" winners, adding: "The charity’s commitment to exemplary child care oral health and education was evident to the judges.”

Ms Wetherall said that she was "really proud" of the achievement. "This is the first time we are doing anything like this. We are still in shock and surprised. We knew our programme had been shortlisted but there are a lot of people out there who do amazing jobs so we were thrilled and delighted to win. 

Pictured: Dental hygienist Caroline Wetherall and dentist Sarah Pollard impressed judges to secure a top prize at the Oral Health Awards.

"We have worked very hard over the past five years and it's nice to get accreditation and recognition for it."

But the duo won't be resting on their laurels. They will soon be launching a programme in partnership with Family Nursing and Home Care to help support families by providing them with toothbrushes and toothpaste for up to 24 months in additional to helpful advice.

"Our aim is for every school child to get a year of supervised toothbrushing. Really the message is 'Toothbrushing for life', which is a good message to get out so that they don't need much mental work when they are older. This is the reason behind the programme with FNHC, so that children have their teeth brushed from birth right up to school. When they reach school, we are here and we support them.

Pictured: Some of the goodies given to children by Super Smiles.

"It is all about prevention, having healthy, happy smiling children, and giving a skill for life."