A DENTAL scheme has been praised for improving the oral health of children with physical disabilities and sensory or learning impairments.
The Special Smiles Dental Project has already won a national award and been shortlisted for an international prize since it was launched.
The joint project between NHS Lanarkshire and Action for Sick Children Scotland (ASCS), the scheme won the National Oral Health Promotion Group Patron’s Prize at its annual conference in Manchester.
It was also a finalist at a recent awards ceremony at a gathering of paediatric dentists in Glasgow.
Its main feature is a dental playbox is used in schools which teaches children with additional and complex support needs about dental visits.
The playbox contains books, videos, puppets, games and toys to help the teachers, carers and parents inform the children about teeth and dentists.
The ASCS Special Smiles staff use the resources to help reduce these children’s anxieties about the dentist and improve their oral health through preventative measures.
Collecting the award in Manchester, Dr Albert Yeung, the health board's consultant in dental public health, said: “Children with additional and complex support needs are at a higher risk of needing specialist dental services than the general population.
“To address this, this project worked with the schools, parents and carers to help them develop good dietary and oral health habits among the children.
“The dental playbox contains books, videos, puppets, games and toys to help the teachers, carers and parents teach the children about teeth and dentists. It enabled the children to become familiar with and at ease with the dental environment."
He said the project has encouraged dental services to think about ways of becoming more f
“The project also encouraged dental services to think about how they can become more patient friendly for those children with additional and complex support needs.”
In 2013/14, 22 Lanarkshire schools took part in the project which resulted in 106 teachers being trained and 403 children being supported.
It resulted in the number of children saying they were worried or upset about visiting the dentist falling from 35 per cent to 11 per cent. Meanwhile, those who felt comfortable about their dental visits rose by 65 per cent to 89 per cent.
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