Integrating Oral Health Promotion within a Family Weight Management Programe: Proposed Initiative

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a growing global health problem and it has been associated with poor oral health. According to the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, excessive consumption of free sugars is a risk factor both for dental caries and obesity. Mytime Active is a British social enterprise with charitable objectives, working to improve the health and wellbeing of local communities. It runs and licenses MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition…Do it!), an internationally established obesity treatment and prevention programme for children and families, which promotes healthy eating, physical activity and behaviour change.

Aim: To integrate oral health with healthy weight promotion in Mytime Active’s updated MEND 5-7 and 7-11 yearold programmes, empowering children and families to establish effective oral hygiene practices and maintain good oral health.

Methods: It is proposed that dentists from a dental public health team will collaborate with Mytime Active to develop an oral health module for its MEND programmes, to deliver alongside existing nutritional information, physical activity and support for behaviour change. The module will focus on oral hygiene and dietary recommendations from Public Health England’s ‘Delivering Better Oral Health’ toolkit and the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry’s ‘A practical guide to children’s teeth’. It will also cover advice on finding a dentist and the value of regular attendance. In May 2017, the dentists will provide Mytime Active delivery staff with one day’s training on the oral health module content. They will assist staff with planning how the module will be incorporated and taught across the series of MEND sessions. In June 2017 this module will be piloted in two MEND programmes in London that will each be supporting up to 12 families with overweight and obese children aged 5-11 years. Mytime Active will deliver weekly interactive sessions with these families over ten to twelve weeks. During the pilot, the dentists will remain a point of contact for Mytime Active, to enable continuing support. Initial evaluation of the teaching module will involve assessing the change in oral health knowledge and behaviours of all the families in the pilot from programme commencement to completion. Additionally, the dentists will run a focus group with staff who have taught the module, to inform future development and plan for roll-out across other MEND programmes.

Since this abstract was presented in Vilnius on 9 June, it has been decided that the oral health module will instead be developed for MEND Mums, a weight management programme for post-natal mothers with children up to 2 years old. The aim is to support mothers establish effective preventive oral health practices with their children early in the life course.