asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, apart from the section on water fluoridation, the absence of any reference to dental and oral health in the White Paper,
Saving Lives—Our Healthier Nation, can be seen as an encouragement to the 23,400 practitioners and 36,070 dental nurses, hygienists, therapists and technicians working within the general dental service. [HL3704]
We made particular mention of the fluoridation of water because this has been shown to be the most effective method of reducing tooth decay. We do, however, recognise the contribution that other oral health promotion measures can make and have allocated £500,000 for funding exemplar projects in the current financial year. These include two projects aimed at encouraging families from ethnic communities to register with dental practices in order that they may benefit from both the treatment and preventive measures provided by the dental team. We are working on a dental strategy in which we will develop our policy on oral and dental health.