Children at Our Lady’s and St Brendan’s Primary School in Idle, Bradford, have been taking part in a project to help improve oral health.

As part of National Smile Month the pupils and teachers used large tooth brush timers to record how long they took to brush their teeth.

The supervised tooth brushing programme has been put in place in schools not only to encourage children to brush their teeth for two minutes, twice a day, but also to get parents involved.

It is part of Bradford and Airedale Choosing Better Oral Health Strategy and is supported by the Department of Health as a way of reducing dental decay in teeth.

Sharon Walker, oral health promotion co-ordinator for Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust said: “This approach makes it fun for children to brush their teeth and it has also raised parents’ awareness of how important good tooth brushing is.”