Mini Mouth Care Matters for Health Visiting Teams

Mini Mouth Care Matters is a national oral health improvement programme designed to embed routine mouth care into the practice of non-dental professionals. This catalogue brings together a suite of resources developed specifically for health visiting teams, supporting them to promote good oral health from the antenatal period through to early childhood.

The resources include an e-learning programme introducing the importance of oral health and the 'lift the lip' mouth check, a practical visual mouth care guide using a traffic light system to interpret findings and identify next steps, and an age-staged oral health advice checklist covering evidence-based guidance on toothbrushing, diet, fluoride and dental attendance from pregnancy through to two years and beyond.

Together these resources equip health visiting teams with the knowledge, tools and confidence to have meaningful oral health conversations as part of their everyday practice. They support early identification of dental problems, timely onward referral where needed, and consistent, evidence-based advice to families at every contact.

By embedding oral health into routine health visiting, these resources help to reduce inequalities in children's oral health outcomes, improve access to dental care for vulnerable families, and support children to have a healthy mouth from the very start of life.