Supervised toothbrushing for young children to be rolled out in deprived parts of Yorkshire

Yorkshire and the North East will be given £2.3m to set up programmes from April, with deprived parts of Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield receiving the most funding.

Almost half a million children across the region have not seen an NHS dentist in more than a year, while South Yorkshire has the highest rate of tooth extractions in the country.

It is hoped that the initiative could save the NHS millions by reducing the number of children who need hospital care for rotten teeth.

While many welcomed the scheme, education leaders said that schools cannot be expected to “fix all of society’s ills” and that steps must be taken to prevent a shift of “what is ultimately a parental responsibility onto the shoulders of schools”.

Supervised toothbrushing is already available to 143,000 children across the country, according to figures published in the British Dental Journal.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it expects up to 600,000 children to take part in the supervised brushing.

The initiative, from DHSC and the Department for Education, will be backed by £11 million. Schools are able to voluntarily sign up to the scheme.

Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said: “It is shocking that a third of five-year-olds in the most deprived areas have experience of tooth decay, something we know can have a lifelong impact on their health.

“It’s why we’re delivering supervised toothbrushing to young children and families who are most in need of support as part of our wider plans to revive the oral health of the nation.

“This includes providing 23m free toothbrushes and toothpastes through our partnership with Colgate-Palmolive to reach up to 600,000 children each year.”

The Government said the latest data shows more than one in four children aged five have experienced tooth decay in the North East and Yorkshire.

The region has been found to have some of the worst dental deserts in the country, with 97 per cent of people who try and access an NHS dentist failing.

A recent Health and Social Care Select Committee report found that four of five ICB areas with the lowest number of dentists doing NHS work in the country were in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.