“Patient safety from the start!” the theme for World Patient Safety Day 2025  is a timely reminder that protecting the health of children means looking beyond the obvious. While medical and surgical safety often takes centre stage, oral health is too often sidelined, despite its profound impact on a child’s recovery and wellbeing. 

Why Mouth Care Is a Patient Safety Issue 

Hospitalised children, especially those who are acutely unwell, tube-fed, undergoing cancer treatment, or living with complex needs, face a significantly heightened risk of poor oral health. Without daily oral care, plaque builds up rapidly, increasing the risk of infections, oral pain, and systemic complications such as aspiration pneumonia or sepsis all avoidable harms that compromise recovery and prolong hospital stay. 

For example, a child undergoing chemotherapy may suffer from severe mucositis if mouth care is neglected. This not only causes pain and feeding difficulties but can also delay treatment, increase hospital costs, and necessitate stronger pain relief, including opioids. A simple intervention brushing twice daily with fluoride toothpaste can mitigate these risks. 

The Mini Mouth Care Matters Approach 

As the founding national lead for Mini Mouth Care Matters (Mini MCM), I am incredibly proud of how far this initiative has come since we launched it in 2019. What began as a small-scale pilot has grown into a national movement, utilised in clinical practice across hospices, hospitals, and community settings. 

Mini MCM was created to embed essential oral health practices into the routine care of children and young people in hospital settings. Just as pressure area care or fluid balance is routinely monitored, so too should the mouth be considered — because neglecting oral health results in avoidable harm. 

Rooted in the philosophy that children’s oral health is everybody’s business, Mini MCM empowers all healthcare staff not just dental professionals to prevent oral health complications. Nurses, speech and language therapists, dietitians, doctors and carers all play a role. Through practical tools, targeted training, and visual prompts, Mini MCM supports safe, consistent daily mouth care for all children. 

A paediatric patient safety pilot in UK children’s hospices found that implementing Mini MCM improved oral assessments, reduced oral-related incidents, and reassured families that their child’s whole health including their mouth was being prioritised. 

Empowering Parents and Children 

Crucially, Mini MCM engages parents and caregivers, equipping them with knowledge and confidence to provide safe, effective mouth care and supporting them in advocating for their child. This shared responsibility fosters a culture of compassion, comfort and dignity — especially vital for children with additional needs or long-term conditions. 

Mini MCM also provides age-appropriate materials to empower children to look after their own oral health. From brushing charts to sensory-friendly mouth care resources, it respects children’s rights to be involved in their care and recognises that dignity and comfort are key to safe, compassionate practice. 

The Bigger Picture 

Mini MCM embodies the ethos of “Making Every Contact Count” and reflects a wider cultural shift to “put the mouth back into the body” — recognising oral health as an essential part of systemic health and safety. 

I’m delighted that the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry and the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health supports this initiative and showcases Mini MCM resources for professionals on their websites. This partnership ensures more clinicians and teams can access essential tools to improve care.