On 12 April 2014 the Oral Health Promotion Team from County Health Partnerships, part of Nottinghamshire Healthcare, held a networking event for dental health professionals.

Delegates from dental practices in Nottingham City, Nottinghamshire County and Bassetlaw were joined by Barry Cockcroft, Chief Dental Officer England, and Sandra Whiston, Dental Public Health Consultant for the East Midlands, who set the scene by presenting international, national and local data.

The theme for the conference was children and focussed on families with children under five-years-old. In Nottingham City 39% of five year olds had experience of dental disease (England average 28%) and in the County 20% have had active decay. This highlighted the importance of this agenda in the local area.

Julia Wilkinson, Head of Oral Health Promotion and 'Chief Tooth Fairy' said:

'Current oral health activities we are working on in Nottingham include The City Smiles and Incredible Mouths programmes which involve training to midwifery, health visiting and school health teams to ensure they are all delivering up to date key oral health messages at crucial developmental stages. New initiatives include a drive to increase dental access of families with two year olds through the “two year ticket scheme” with health visiting and dental practices.'

The event included speakers, dental reps, a raffle, goody bags, workshops and 'speed dating' - an opportunity for local services to liaise with dental practices for the first time.

The next conference, on older children and young people, is planned for October.