Job Description

Oral Health Promoters ( 0.4 wte)



Whittington Health Dental Service



Band 5



Whittington Health Community Dental Service (CDS) operates across ten boroughs in North West and North Central London providing a comprehensive service for patients with complex needs, as well as evidence-based oral health promotion to key population groups, in line with national and local strategies for reducing inequalities in oral health. Socially excluded and vulnerable people suffer the effects of poor oral health with the added disadvantage of poor access to dental care and preventive services.



We are looking for an Oral Health Promoter to join our dynamic dental team, s upporting the implementation and delivery of Supervised tooth brushing scheme across NCL along with our established core community based OHP programmes.



The post holder will be expected to work closely with members of the community dental team as well as liaising with other professional and carers in the Health Service, Social Care, Educational and Voluntary sector.

For further details / informal visits contact:

Farheen Naqvi, Oral Health Improvement Lead, Whittington Health Dental Services on 0203 316 8353 / farheen.naqvi@nhs.net



This post will be based in the Community Dental Service. The principle care groups covered by Community Dental Services are:



children with high levels of dental decay or with special needs,



people with profound physical, mental or medical disabilities



The purpose of this job is to contribute toward the improvement of oral health and reduction of oral health inequalities by



providing education and support



maximising the availability of fluoride



building skills, capacity and confidence in local people



increasing access to local NHS dental services



Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.



Support implementation and delivery of our established core community-based OHP programmes, including:



Supervised tooth brushing scheme



Brushing for Life



Fluoride Varnish



OHP outreach for vulnerable groups



CQC OH standards in care homes



Train and support frontline staff to make every contact count, following the "train the trainer" model 'Tooth Champion' training. Partner groups will include



Schools and Early Years settings



Children services including looked after children services



Social care and home-support services including care homes



Hospital and community-based health professionals



Charity and voluntary sector organisation



Provide oral health promotion and preventive care where appropriate to vulnerable groups and the general population in line with current guidelines such as Delivering Better Oral Healt



4.Work in a variety of settings including schools, children centres, nursing and residential homes, sheltered accommodation, hospital wards, day centres for adults and children with special needs.



To work with communities to identify and address barriers and opportunities for oral health improvement e.g. Children Centre HEY award, Healthy school London award etc.