Improving Children’s Oral Health
Reducing inequalities and building lifelong healthy habits
Active Essex has led a targeted Oral Health Improvement initiative across Castle Point and Rochford in response to rising concerns around poor oral hygiene among young children.
Identifying oral health as a local health inequality, Active Essex coordinated a system‑wide effort to increase awareness, support early‑years habits, and reduce preventable health issues among the most vulnerable families. Working alongside HAF delivery partners, primary schools and a wide range of community and VCSE organisations, this collaborative approach has strengthened local capacity, supported early intervention, and embedded oral‑health education into place‑based prevention strategies.
Through PCN data, engagement with HAF providers, schools and VCSE groups, Active Essex identified oral health as a key local health inequality requiring urgent attention. Conversations with frontline partners highlighted:
- High levels of poor oral hygiene among young children
- Limited access to consistent, child friendly oral health resources
- Variation in parental oral health literacy
- Need for practical, prevention focused tools to support families
These insights shaped a coordinated response that prioritised families most at risk of poor health outcomes.
Active Essex acted as the system convenor, designing and leading the initiative from concept to delivery by developing and sourcing the oral‑health packs, while embedding consistent oral‑health messaging into district prevention strategies and coordinating a multi‑agency partnership involving RAVS, CAVS, PCN Population Health Nurses and the Mid & South Essex ICB. Alongside this, Active Essex implemented an Oral Health Pack Tracker to monitor distribution, reach and emerging outcomes, and supported partners to deliver accessible, child‑friendly oral‑health sessions.
This leadership strengthened system alignment and ensured that families most in need were prioritised. Early findings highlighted increased confidence, curiosity and reduced anxiety among children when talking about or practicing oral hygiene, and parents also reported greater awareness of daily hygiene habits, sugar consumption and the importance of early intervention.
The initiative has contributed directly to key outcomes by enhancing children’s confidence and understanding of positive health behaviours, embedding early‑years prevention aligned to Core20PLUS5 priorities and strengthening place‑based working across two priority districts.
It has also generated wider ripple effects, with oral health now regularly discussed at local Health and Wellbeing Board subgroups, ICB huddles, PCN population health meetings, VCSE networks and school wellbeing sessions. Partners have begun independently requesting oral‑health resources and integrating oral‑health conversations into broader wellbeing support, demonstrating that prevention practices are now locally owned and increasingly embedded.
Key Learnings
It's important to take time to reflect and understand the learnings from work undertaken, to focus on ways to improve in the future.
Messaging
Must be accessible and clear, due to the variation in oral-health literacy among parents.
Finding Solutions
Partners initially lacked resources and confidence, but the packs provided a practical solution.
Engagement
A playful, hands-on approach with early years was essential for partners to adapt to.
Tracking
Coordinating distribution across two districts was improved with the Oral Health Pack Tracker.
Looking ahead, the initiative will be integrated into the 2025–26 Implementation Plan, with the ambition to scale learning to additional Core20PLUS5 districts. Plans include developing short training modules to equip VCSE partners, schools and HAF providers to deliver oral‑health sessions with confidence, continuing to supply and track oral‑health packs to monitor changing needs and impact, and expanding the initiative to link oral health with wider determinants of wellbeing, including nutrition, physical activity and healthy daily routines.
This next phase aims to further strengthen the prevention agenda across Essex and ensure that every child has the opportunity to build lifelong healthy habits.
