Gloucester MP joins with Genix Healthcare to combat tooth decay among young children

Gloucester MP Richard Graham has joined forces with Genix Healthcare to fight against tooth decay, particularly among young children, and increase NHS registrations in the city.

Picture shows Mustafa Mohammed and Richard Graham MP

The Conservative MP met founder and managing director Mustafa Mohammed and spoke with staff and patients at the group’s dental practice in Station Road.

The practice, which is open for NHS registrations and private treatments, sees around 3,000 patients a month. Many suffer from dental neglect and some have not seen a dentist for a decade or more.

Genix is seeing an increase in the number of children requiring fillings, which is blamed on sugary drinks and snacks.

Richard Graham MP said:

Genix Healthcare is a quality dental surgery and I’m delighted they’ve invested in Gloucester.  

It was good to catch up with staff and patients to spread the word about dental hygiene from an early age. Register now with your local dentist!

The practice is working with the local community to promote oral health and is providing free education classes to children and adults.

It is very important to build oral health habits among children. Regular teeth cleaning is very important but the biggest change required is to reduce sugar in diets, not just in food but also in so-called healthy drinks.

Mr Mohammed said:

Having healthy teeth means having a healthy smile. We want all of our children to have healthy smiles.

Mr Mohammed founded Genix Healthcare a decade ago. The group now has 25 practices across the country.

The Gloucester practice is decorated in the company’s signature style, featur-ing large prints of Hollywood stars.

Mr Mohammed said:

This is one of the most beautiful dental practices in the UK. If you come into this practice, you are greeted by Marilyn Monroe. It is ideal if patients are nervous or worried and helps them to feel comfortable and relaxed.

When we started this business in 2006, there were queues of people outside dental practices waiting to see dentists.

Now there is good availability of NHS dentistry in Gloucester. We want to promote good dental health and increase NHS registrations in this wonderful city.

Less than half of the UK population regularly attends a dental practice. The other half only attend when there is a problem severe enough to cause pain. Tooth extraction is often the only course of treatment available at this late stage.

Tooth decay tends to be more prevalent in areas of social deprivation.