The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) have worked together to produce two practical resources that support professionals across child health to make oral health part of every contact with children, young people and their families.

Children's oral health is everybody's business. Tooth decay remains the most common reason for hospital admission in children aged 5 to 9 years in England, yet it is largely preventable. These resources are designed to help non-dental professionals feel confident to talk about oral health, recognise when a child needs dental care, and signpost families to the right service.

Making Every Contact Count for Children's Oral Health

A practical toolkit for professionals working across child health

This joint RCPCH and BSPD toolkit is for doctors, nurses, health visitors, school nurses, allied health professionals and anyone else who works with children and young people. It sets out why oral health matters to general health and wellbeing, how dental services and levels of care are organised, and what key messages to share with families at each age and stage.

The toolkit includes:

• a quick reference summary, including a simple guide on when to escalate
• key oral health messages by age band
• guidance on safeguarding and dental neglect
• case studies from practice
• signposting to services across all four UK nations.

Download the toolkit

A Step-by-Step Implementation Guide to Mini Mouth Care Matters

Mini Mouth Care Matters is a national programme that improves oral care for children and young people in hospital and other healthcare settings. This implementation guide was developed in response to requests from medical and nursing colleagues for practical support to embed oral health into everyday care.

The guide takes teams step by step through setting up Mini Mouth Care Matters locally, from securing support and identifying champions to piloting, measuring impact and sustaining change. It includes a traffic-light mouth check, guidance on lifting the lip, and ready-to-use templates in the appendices.

The Mini Mouth Care Matters e-learning is hosted on the NHS Learning Hub. If you are unable to access the Hub directly, please email enquiries@learninghub.nhs.uk, and the team can support access and help embed the e-learning within your local learning platform. For enquiries about Mini Mouth Care Matters outside England, please contact administrator@bspd.co.uk.

Download the Implementation Guide