New resource - Treating hypos and taking care of your teeth
22/02/2022
A new leaflet has been published containing advice for families about ensuring that hypo treatments do not inadvertently cause toothcare issues for children.
The Community Dental Service in Swansea Bay University Health Board worked with the Swansea Bay paediatric diabetes team to create the advice.
“This was prompted when one of the children we cared for had to have some teeth removed because the teeth had such high levels of decay,” explains Dr Chris Bidder, Paediatric Consultant in the Swansea team.
“We realised that some of this was probably related to using glucose treatments for hypos. A lot of children use drinks with sugar in, or sweets like jelly babies, to treat hypos and that means their teeth are exposed to sugar as a result.”
“We felt that some specific advice was needed that recognised that hypo treatments containing glucose are necessary, and therefore tailored the advice about toothcare to take that into account.”
“We are very grateful to our colleagues in the Community Dental Team, particularly to Dr Rohini Mohan, the clinical lead for the team in Swansea Bay, for helping us to make this advice relevant to children with Type 1 diabetes.”
The leaflets will be distributed to teams at the Wales Network Meeting at the end of March. PDF versions are also available to download.