A dental project carried out in NHS Lanarkshire has won a national award and was shortlisted for an international one after working to improve the oral health of children with physical disabilities and/or sensory or learning impairments.

The Special Smiles Dental Project, a collaboration between NHS Lanarkshire and Action for Sick Children Scotland (ASCS), won the National Oral Health Promotion Group (NOHPG) Patron’s Prize at the NOHPG conference in Manchester and was one of four finalists at the Bright Smiles-Bright Futures Award, at the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry’s 25^th Congress in Glasgow.

The project’s specially developed resource dental playbox is used in schools which teach children with additional and complex support needs.

The ASCS Special Smiles staff use the resources to help reduce these children’s anxieties about the dentist and improve their oral health through preventative measures.

NHS Lanarkshire consultant in dental public health, Dr Albert Yeung (pictured), has promoted the work and is a member of the Special Smiles Project Advisory Group, and collected the national award on behalf of NHS Lanarkshire and ASCS.

Dr Yeung said: “Children with additional and complex support needs are at a higher risk of needing specialist dental services than the general population.

“To address this, this project worked with the schools, parents and carers to help them develop good dietary and oral health habits among the children.

“The dental playbox contains books, videos, puppets, games and toys to help the teachers, carers and parents teach the children about teeth and dentists. It enabled the children to become familiar with and at ease with the dental environment.

“The project also encouraged dental services to think about how they can become more patient friendly for those children with additional and complex support needs.”

Over the course of 2013/14, 22 Lanarkshire schools took part in the project which resulted in 106 teachers being trained and 403 children being supported.

It resulted in the number of children saying they were ‘worried’ or ‘upset’ about the dentist decreasing from 35 per cent to 11 per cent, and those who felt ‘okay’ about the dentist increasing from 65 per cent to 89 per cent. Feedback also pointed to an increase in the children’s self-confidence.

Teachers and parents also increased their awareness of and ability to contribute to children’s oral health, up from 69 per cent to 95 per cent among teachers and 64 per cent to 93 per cent among parents.

ASCS Chair, Professor Richard Olver said: “The award is terrific, but what it is even more satisfying is the feedback from the schools and parents.

“A principal teacher from Crosshouse Primary School in East Kilbride said one parent told them the initiative had a huge positive impact on their family.

“Teachers have also told us the resources have benefited the children in many ways.”