If you’re leading this month’s training session, ensure that your team members understand their specific roles and are confident in playing their part. Here are some pointers to help maximise your training time:

• Discuss how team members manage their own oral health. Do they follow recommendations in terms of dental visits, oral hygiene, etc? If not, what are the challenges? If yes, what motivates them? How can this information be pooled together for the benefit of customers?
• How can the pharmacy team allay customers’ fears about visiting the dentist? Think about some phrases you could use to help customers with this anxiety
• There has been a lot of talk in the press recently about the sugar tax and the impact of sugary food and drink on health. Revise your current understanding about sugar intake in relation to oral health. What matters? Quantity? Frequency of consumption? Types of food and drink? Put together a pack of information you would give to customers about diet and oral health
• What dental fads can your team think of? Discuss whether they may be useful or not
• Get your team to look at the merchandising of oral healthcare products. Could this be improved to inform customers of the benefits of different types of products?