For the paediatric department of the Hamdan Bin Mohammed College of Dental Medicine in Dubai, September is an eventful month. All the dentists in the department are travelling to Dundee for the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry’s annual conference. There, the teaching staff of the college will listen to their colleague, Dr Iyad Hussein, assistant Clinical Professor in Paediatric Dentistry, describe their department’s contribution to FiCTION (Filling Children’s Teeth: indicated or not), one of the most important clinical trials ever to be undertaken into dental caries in children.

Updated guidance on feeding in the first year of life published this month by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) has been welcomed by the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry. Professor Emeritus Andrew Rugg-Gunn, BSPD’s expert and a former member of the SACN panel, commented: “I welcome this report and the inclusion of the chapter on oral health, rightly emphasising its importance in the general development of infants.”

For seriously ill children, a simple toothbrush can be critical to health and well-being. This is the message being delivered to medical teams at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) by paediatric dental consultant Urshla Devalia. Nurses, health care assistants and doctors working at the hospital are to be trained by Ms Devalia and GOSH specialist dental nurse, Claire Fletcher, to help implement a pioneering new programme called Mini Mouthcare Matters (Mini MCM).