Starting Well campaign is delivering on its commitment

The North-South divide is turned on its head when it comes to children's dentistry and attendance at an NHS dental practice. Dr Robin Mills, a specialist in paediatric dentistry and former British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD President), has used NHS Digital figures to produce a map (pictured) which shows that children in the North of England are more likely to have seen an NHS dentist in the last year. The map also shows that the Starting Well campaign is delivering on the commitment to improve children's oral health.

Notes: Postcode areas do not exactly match Local Authorities (LAs) but allow a clear graphic to be displayed in an A4 format. The map has, therefore, been compiled using postcode areas which in one case - Oldham − contains more than one LA. The map displays those postcode areas that contain a Local Authority where Starting Well has been introduced.

In addition to the Starting Well 13, the Department of Health launched Starting Well Core, a commissioning option which allows commissioners in England to give additional UDAs to practices to see the 0−2s.

Dr Mills' map reflects dental attendance according to postcode areas. He has highlighted the 13 areas where the Starting Well programme to tackle poor dental attendance and poor oral health was introduced. His work shows there has been an overall improvement in the rankings of the 13 Starting Well postcode areas, indicating that the Department of Health initiative is working. The Dental Check by One (DCby1) campaign, which aims to get children seeing a dentist as their first teeth come through, was launched by BSPD in partnership with the Office of the Chief Dental Officer (OCDO) in 2017. Dental Check by One is integral to Starting Well which is now available as a core programme to all local authorities.

The NHS England figures analysed by Dr Mills are for March 2018 to March 2019 and so are only early signs at this stage. However, Dr Mills believes the figures are promising. He commented: 'It's very clear that of 13 Starting Well Local Authorities, 12 were in the top 50% while seven were in the top 25% and none were in the lowest 25%. This is an initiative which appears to be having an impact.

'What we are also seeing is a North-South divide with more children seeing an NHS dentist in the North West and North East than in the South and even the Starting Well initiatives appear better in the North.'