Oral Health Promotion Specialist

Job overview

The post holder is responsible for the planning, development and implementation of local and national initiatives across Wolverhampton in respect of oral health promotion based on epidemiological, demographic, cultural and oral health indicators.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work with the Special Care Dental Team to improve the oral health of people in vulnerable groups who are not able to access general dental services in Wolverhampton.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Management

To contribute to the development of the Special Care Dental Service as a member of the senior clinical team liaising with appropriate colleagues to ensure effective delivery of oral health promotion programmes to improve the oral health of special care groups.

To assist with the management of a budget for Oral health promotion including cost improvements and income generation within the service.

To produce reports on the implementation, progress, development and effectiveness of all initiatives.

Strategy

To contribute to the strategic development of oral health promotion in Wolverhampton in support of the special care dental service strategy. All oral health promotion advice and intervention will be evidence based, reflecting advice in Delivering Better Oral Health- an evidence-based toolkit for prevention and any national guidance that supersedes this.

This includes identification of individuals and groups of individuals who meet the criteria for treatment in the Special Care Dental Service and provision of oral health advice to these groups including signposting to the appropriate dental service.

To assist in the case finding protocol to identify new groups of patients who do not access NHS dentistry and are eligible for the special care dental service.

To help plan and work to an agreed oral health plan for Wolverhampton.

To facilitate and co-ordinate appropriate health promotion strategies which relate to oral health for Special Care Dental patients

To formulate partnership and support working with other programme co-ordinators, organisations and other statutory bodies.

Training

Develop and deliver appropriate oral health training or information packages to support improvements in the oral health of individuals eligible to attend Special Care Dental Service

To design and provide relevant dental training programmes for health and local authority staff in Wolverhampton.

To plan and provide training for carers of special needs clients and relevant interventions for the clients themselves.

Provide relevant training and programmes within the Voluntary sector i.e. Age Concern, Aquarius, Alzheimer’s.

To support general practitioners and their staff within the trust and general dental practitioner with oral health resources and training if appropriate.

To implement local and National Oral Health campaigns and organise input into Exhibitions and Health Fairs where appropriate

To be pro-active in personal and professional development, updating knowledge and skills by appropriate means.

Service provision

To provide 1:1 oral health advice to individuals who meet the criteria for treatment in the Special Care Dental Service including signposting to the appropriate dental service. This may involve arranging for their treatment within the special care dental service where necessary.

To provide oral health support to the dental staff to support the clinical programme, particularly those working with the mobile dental unit. This may involve the provision of advice to individual service users, carers, groups of service users and individuals

Liaising with individual members of clinical staff to ensure that the correct oral health advice is provided for their patients