Oral health (health and wellbeing needs in South Tyneside)

• Whilst children's oral health has improved over the last 20 years, over a quarter of 5 year olds and 12 per cent of three year olds in South Tyneside have experienced tooth decay.
• Despite recent improvements, more deprived groups have poorer dental health and are more likely to be hospitalised for dental health problems. 72.5% of children in East Shields and Whitburn have healthy teeth compared with 87.9% of children in West Shields, Cleadon and Boldon.
• When comparing South Tyneside with the rest of the North East inequalities exist and approaches to prevention differ.
• 15.4% of children in Hartlepool, 18.3% in North Tyneside, 22.5% in Newcastle have decay experience compared to 26% in South Tyneside. 40.1 % of children in Sunderland have tooth decay. 

• The large variability in decay rates in the North East is likely to be heavily influenced by the variability of availability of fluoridated water. Hartlepool, Newcastle, Gateshead and Northumberland all have a higher proportion of decay-free five year olds than the national average and these are all areas with fluoridated water. This highlights the possibilities that exist through a population approach to improving health.
• As well as population approaches, targeted efforts into our vulnerable communities could help to narrow the gap in oral health inequalities. Consideration should be given to Public Health England advocated interventions such as tooth brushing schemes, utilising the workforce to promote good oral health, and a common risk factor approach which address key risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol and especially sugar reduction.

Dental access

• Dental access is good in South Tyneside when compared with the elsewhere in the North East. Though national trends around deprivation suggest that those at risk groups locally, may not be attending. Efforts should continue to promote visiting the dentists in all settings.
  • 81% of child (0-17) population seen in previous 12 months compared with 54 % in County Durham
  • 83% of adult (18+) population seen in the previous 24 months compared with 53 % in County Durham

Older people

• Long-term conditions can limit older people's ability to carry out their usual daily activities, which may impact on their oral hygiene routine and diet. This can leave older people at higher risk of both dental caries and periodontal disease
• Given the projected growth in the older population and the increase in some long term conditions, the future increased oral health needs of our older residents need to be catered for. The local system needs to ensure that oral health policies, oral health needs assessments, staff training on oral health care and a system to ensure oral hygiene support are all provided in residential, nursing care homes, 'care in your home' services and hospitals with inpatient facilities.