Kids in most deprived areas of Liverpool will be able to brush teeth at school
The national programme is being rolled out for 3 to 5-year-olds in early years settings – in the most deprived areas of England
Last updated 7th Mar 2025
Children in the most deprived areas of Liverpool will soon be able to brush their teeth, supervised, at school.
The national supervised toothbrushing programme is rolling out for 3 to 5-year-olds in early years settings – including nurseries and primary schools.
This is being funded to the tune of £11.4 million, which will be allocated to local authorities across England to deploy supervised toothbrushing in schools and nurseries that voluntarily sign up and is new money.
Liverpool, Lancashire and Manchester are receiving £2.4million of that.
Stuart Garton, owner of The Dental House in Old Swan, said:
"I think it's great that a scheme like this is being rolled out across the UK - getting to children at an early age and making sure that they're brushing their teeth properly and getting into good habits is excellent.
"In this age group, certainly getting the parents involved and supervising and making sure the technique is right is really critical.
"If we can get good habits and good behaviour into children at this age, it's obviously going to extend out into the rest of their life and will hopefully minimise some of the dental problems that kids are getting at this age as well, which can be quite difficult to manage as a dentist."
Ingrid Perry, Prevention Lead at 'My Dentist' - who have branches across the North West - said:
"At the moment, it is quite a sad situation. We've got lots of children with high amounts of tooth decay, mainly in areas of deprivation.
"It's been the same for many, many years, but the introduction of the supervised tooth brushing programme is an ideal opportunity to change this!
"Many of the children don't have their own toothbrush at home, they may share with a sibling.
"We have some families that have to make the decision of do they buy toiletries, or do they put food on the table.
"At least with a supervised toothbrushing programme they're going to have regular access to fluoride toothpaste.
"My understanding is that there will be take home packs also for the children to be able to brush their teeth at home."