This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Health Improvement Officer for Children and Families, Jacqui Shadrache, for the attention of all Early Years Settings and schools.
Following liaisons with our colleagues at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Dental Public Health, Slough Borough Council and Solutions 4Health it has been agreed to pause tooth brushing in settings in Slough at this present time. The reason for this change is due to the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and the increased ease of transmission of the new variant strain of this virus.
The situation will be reviewed after the February half term if all children return to school/early years setting or sooner if the situation changes for the positive. We hope that this step will help to ease pressure on staff and offer reassurance at this time. The oral health team will be contacting the settings that currently hold a Gold accreditation for Slough Healthy Smiles, to offer any further advice and support.
Contactless support by the team is available for all settings at this time. They are able to deliver online information/training sessions for staff, parents and children, and have delivered several online sessions to date via Microsoft Teams or Zoom, and have found that delivery to participants in a comfortable environment of their choice, using their own laptop has made for an interactive, enjoyable and productive information/training platform.
They have also developed 2 interactive YouTube videos. These are aimed at KS1 and KS2 children, and can be used as an informative addition to remote learning.
If you would like to know more about the support they can provide, please do not hesitate to email the team at Oral.Health@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk.