Objectives: Teeside has one of the highest dental decay rates for children in the country - almost double the national rate for five-year-olds.
"We needed to do something with other agencies," says Kamini Shah, consultant in dental public health at Stockton-on-Tees Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT). "If you get to children from a young age when they're starting to brush their teeth you can develop good practice that will stay with them for the rest of their life."
A joint campaign was developed by the PCT's oral health promotion department and children's centres in Stockton-on-Tees.
What was done: The PCT-funded Tiny Teeth project is now running in centres in all four of Stockton-on-Tees' new integrated services areas. Home visitors pass on key oral health messages when they visit families as part of general advice on health and wellbeing. Families can also take part in centre-based Tiny Teeth Clubs, with weekly sessions on one of five themes.
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