Dental Practices

Children should begin regularly attending a dental practice as soon as their first tooth appears, and certainly by the first birthday. Designed to Smile is working closely with NHS General Dental Practice teams in Wales to support increasing dental attendance in early childhood.

At the practice, dental teams can support prevention and encourage good oral health behaviours to reduce the risk of dental caries.  All dental team members are encouraged to understand and use Delivering Better Oral Health: An evidence-based toolkit for prevention.

Dental teams in Wales! Have you registered for Designed to Smile in Practice, our e-learning programme? For more information, visit https://heiw.nhs.wales/education-and-training/dental/quality-improvement/designed-to-smile-in-practice/

Designed to Smile teams can support and advise dental practice teams about integrating prevention into their practice. An e-learning programme guiding dental professionals through the process of carrying out a quality improvement project in their practice has been developed. The programme aims to improve caries prevention methods for young children and is called Designed to Smile in Practice.  Contact your local Designed to Smile team  for details.

For information about the General Dental Services Reform programme in Wales, please visit:  Dental Practices - Public Health Wales (nhs.wales) 

For information about healthy eating, training and nutrition education for health professionals, visit Nutrition Skills for Life