Getting the nation smiling

This spring health and social care professionals are working together to promote a healthy smile as part of National Smile Month.  National Smile Month is a national campaign run by ... Read more

This spring health and social care professionals are working together to promote a healthy smile as part of National Smile Month.  National Smile Month is a national campaign run by the British Dental Health Foundation.  The campaign aims to promote the development and maintenance of mouth health by communicating three key messages:

  1. Brush your teeth for two minutes twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.
  2. Cut down on how often you have sugary foods and drinks.
  3. Visit your dentist regularly, as often as they recommend.

Gemma Strachan, one of our health improvement practitioners, hopes this year there will be more people smiling than ever before. “Across the trust, we are running staff challenges to encourage teams to smile more, think about their mouth health and spread the word.  Those teams have come up with great ideas like joke telling competitions, fancy dress health walks and healthy eating picnics.  Our Salaried Dental Clinics also have Smile Month displays and are working with their patients to help them develop good oral health routines”.

Oxfordshire Children’s Centre Healthy Smile Award

Our oral health promotion team work with Oxfordshire’s Children’s Centres all year round to help young children and their families learn the importance of good oral health.  Children’s Centres, whose staff are trained in oral health promotion and supported in setting up a healthy snack policy, are accredited with the ‘ealthy Smile Award.

Big smiles from our oral health promotion team

Big smiles from our oral health promotion team

Gemma told us:  “Working with the Children’s Centres is a great way to help young children develop good oral health routines.  Advice and support is also available for parents and carers – it is really important to make sure they have the right information to give their child the best start in life”. 

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Published: 5 June 2014