Edinburgh Community Food has announced the launch of a community nutrition project focused on oral health.

‘Eat Well for Oral Health’ is a community-based food skills project. It hopes to drive oral health improvements for those affected by socio-economic and race inequalities across Edinburgh, the Lothians with the aim to reach across Scotland.

This is a collaborative initiative between Edinburgh Community Food nutritionists and LINKnet Mentoring’s overseas dentist, Ahmed Bagaber.

It’s designed to empower people to make healthier dietary choices that specifically benefit their oral health. The project does this by teaching enhanced cooking skills and nutrition knowledge.

Eating a healthy balanced diet provides the variety of vitamins and minerals which are needed to maintain a healthy mouth and gums.

The project has reached so far nearly 2,000 households in the past two years across Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Jo Howie, Edinburgh Community Food senior food and health development officer, said, "We are thrilled to promote the success of our 'Eat Well for Oral Health' project this National Smile Month.

“The importance of nutrition and its relation to good oral health cannot be overstated: with the current challenging food environment and difficulties with accessing an NHS dentist, never has it been more crucial for us to support people in vulnerable circumstances to prevent oral health problems.”

Anyone who takes part in the project will also get advice and support on oral health, guidance on how to access an NHS Dentist as well as free nutrition and oral health resources.

The project is governed and funded by The Scottish Government and managed by the NHS Lothian’s Oral Health Improvement Team.

NHS Education for Scotland has worked closely with Edinburgh Community Food and LINKnet Mentoring to create bite-sized learning resources, such as ‘Open Badges’ for oral health, aimed at community workers to support families using evidence-based knowledge.

Karen Coates, a registered dental nurse and oral health educator, said, “We don’t have enough education in the UK about how diet can affect our mouths and bodies.

“Raw nuts, vegetables, cheese and even breadsticks are tooth-friendly choices that are healthy. Although sugary and acidic food and drink may appear affordable and appealing, the consequences to our health may be both costly and unpleasant in the long run.”

The project links individual participants through already existing community groups, concentrating on helping as many people as possible.

Author: