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Supervised toothbrushing: What oral healthcare teams in practice need to know

BDJ In Practice volume 38, pages 298–301 (2025)Cite this article

By Anna Hunt1, Samantha Watt2 and Zoe Marshman2

In March, the government announced an investment of £11 million, for 2025-26 to support supervised toothbrushing programmes (STP) for children aged 3-5 years living in the most deprived areas of England. The funding aims to support up to 600,000 children to undertake supervised toothbrushing and has been given to local authorities (LAs) who are responsible for the commissioning of oral health promotion programmes. In 2024, there was an estimated 150,000 children taking part from 90 LAs across England.1 Additionally, the government announced a collaboration with Colgate-Palmolive who have pledged to provide 23 million toothbrushes and fluoride toothpaste over five years to support both supervised toothbrushing schemes and at-home brushing.

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References

  1. Broomhead T, Watt S, El-Yousfi S, et al. Supervised toothbrushing programmes in England: a national survey of current provision and factors influencing their implementation. Br Dent J 2025; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-024-7782-0.

  2. Anopa Y, McMahon A D, Conway D I, Ball G E, McIntosh E, Macpherson L M D. Improving child oral health: cost analysis of a national nursery toothbrushing programme. PLoS One 2015; 10: e0136211.

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  7. Department for Education and The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP. Policy paper Giving every child the best start in life. 2025. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-every-child-the-best-start-in-life (accessed August 2025).

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  10. Office for Health Improvement & Disparities. Guidance Commissioning and delivering supervised toothbrushing schemes in early years and school settings. 2025. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-oral-health-supervised-tooth-brushing-programme-toolkit/commissioning-and-delivering-supervised-toothbrushing-schemes-in-early-years-and-school-settings (accessed August 2025).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oral Health and Dental Services, Healthcare Public Health, NHS England - Midlands, Midlands, United Kingdom

    Anna Hunt

  2. School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Samantha Watt & Zoe Marshman

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  1. Anna Hunt
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  2. Samantha Watt
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  3. Zoe Marshman
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Correspondence to Zoe Marshman.

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Hunt, A., Watt, S. & Marshman, Z. Supervised toothbrushing: What oral healthcare teams in practice need to know. BDJ In Pract 38, 298–301 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41404-025-3260-x

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