Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure patients with systemic conditions linked to poor oral health, like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, receive appropriate oral health education.

A range of actions support the provision of appropriate oral health education to patients with systemic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. For example, the Delivering Better Oral Health guidance, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/delivering-better-oral-health-an-evidence-based-toolkit-for-prevention

This guidance is a key resource for the oral health profession to address risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and healthier eating. Oral health education should also be embedded in diabetes care pathways, to include educational programmes and oral health team members delivering patient education and motivation, alongside clinical management. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/commissioning-standard-dental-care-for-people-with-diabetes/

Within hospitals, the Mouth Care Matters programme supports the oral health of patients, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/oral-health

In addition to this existing support, the Government is committed to reforming the dental contract by the end of this Parliament, with a focus on promoting prevention, matching resources to need, improving access, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability.