May 04th, 2025

I attended the Care hime show in London for two days from April30 continuing my mission to improve the health and wellbeing of care home residents—and support the carers and dental nurses who look after them.

This should be simple: with the right training, dental nurses and oral health champions can learn to clean residents’ teeth effectively, apply varnish to support gum health, and reduce the risk of preventable diseases like aspiration pneumonia.

They could also help enable asynchronous dental assessments, which would save time, improve outcomes, and bring dentistry to those who need it most.

The real challenge is navigating the maze of legislation and accountability. Despite the clear benefits, implementing even straightforward oral health services can feel like hitting a wall of red tape and circular conversations. As C. Northcote Parkinson pointed out in 1955, bureaucracy grows to impede action—not enable it. More recently Dan Davies’ The Unaccountability Machine makes it clear this issue persists.

We need empowered experts to act and give clear, accountable answers. We don't need to wade through the bureaucratic sludge and irrelevant compliance that serves no one. Until then, progress will remain unnecessarily difficult.