The lead song on the Beatles Abbey Road album of 1969 was ‘Come Together’. That song has great resonance 50 years later as our Merseyside branch urges everyone in dentistry with a passion for children’s oral health to ‘Come Together’ in the Beatles’ home city of Liverpool for our annual conference! The theme is ‘20/20 vision’, a term that we know to denote standard eyesight, and is also a metaphor for learning from the past and looking to the future. It’s a perfect theme to explore many aspects of paediatric dentistry and child welfare, and to understand how our knowledge and experience can be translated into future policy and practise.

A briefing paper published today by the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) explains the dental condition Molar Incisor Hypomineralisation (MIH). A common condition, it affects 1:8 children in the UK – around 1m - who experience enamel defects in some teeth. Those who are worst affected are more susceptible to dental decay. The aim of the paper is to underscore the importance of regular dental checks and limiting sugar consumption in all children. The teeth with symptoms are likely to be adult molars (back teeth) and is most often seen on the first four adult molars to come through, becoming apparent from about the age of six. The incisors, the front teeth, can also be affected.

The North South divide is turned on its head when it comes to children’s dentistry and attendance at an NHS dentist. Dr Robin Mills, a specialist in paediatric dentistry and former BSPD President, has used NHS Digital figures to produce a map (see pdf below) which shows that the children in the North of England are more likely to have seen an NHS dentist in the last year. The map also shows that the Starting Well campaign is delivering on the commitment to improve children’s oral health. Dr Mills’ map reflects dental attendance according to postcode areas. He has highlighted the 13 areas where the Starting Well programme to tackle poor dental attendance and poor oral health, was introduced. His work shows there has been an overall improvement in the rankings of the 13 Starting Well postcode areas, indicating that the Department of Health initiative is working.