​The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) has issued advice to members to open up conversations about vaccinations as reports of measles cases increase across the UK.

The Society’s advice is to highlight the evidence-based risk, explain this to families in the context of NHS guidelines and to signpost parents and carers of unvaccinated children to their GP or health visitor. BSPD believes that as part of ‘Making Every Contact Count’ (MECC) and its commitment to provide holistic care for our patients, that this is the ideal opportunity for dentists to play their role.

Dentists will be asking about patients’ vaccination status anyway - as part of the routine medical history. BSPD believes that this is the moment to ask specifically about MMR immunisation and recommends Dental Check by 1 (DCby1), as an ideal time to remind parents and carers to ensure their children’s immunisation records are up to date (DCby1 is BSPD’s campaign to get children into a dentist’s chair before their first birthday).

Measles is an infection that spreads very easily and can cause serious problems in some people. Having the MMR vaccine is the best way to prevent it. Good advice is to check if a child has measles which usually starts with cold-like symptoms, followed by sore red eyes, a fever and a rash a few days later. It's very unlikely to be measles if an individual has had both doses of the MMR vaccine or had measles before. Parents should check their children are fully vaccinated with two MMR doses, which gives 99 per cent life-long protection. Anyone not up-to-date with their MMR vaccines can catch-up through their GP practice whatever your age. Achieving high vaccination coverage across the population, ‘herd immunity’, is important as it indirectly helps protect very young infants (under one) and other vulnerable groups.

Professor Paula Waterhouse, BSPD president, said, “BSPD supports MECC and it makes sense for our members to take this opportunity to spread the message about the importance of vaccination. We recommend paediatric dentists and GDPs seeing children – and their parents or carers - take this moment to discuss the MMR vaccine, which is free for all on the NHS. We recommend suggesting a parent or carer checks their child’s Red Book or contacts their GP practice or health visitor to arrange an appointment. We know that vaccines are our best defence against measles, which spreads very easily, but is preventable.”

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