WORLD Oral Health Day is March 20 and this year’s theme is A Happy Mouth is a Happy Mind.
Positive oral health includes speaking without pain, discomfort or embarrassment and the ability to eat a variety of foods which contributes to overall happiness.
Creating healthy habits from a young age is important in looking after our gums and teeth from the start.
Swan Hill’s oral health rates of decay for children are 10 per cent higher than the Victorian average with 37 per cent of three to five-year-olds and 57 per cent of six to 11-year-olds affected by tooth decay.
Swan Hill also has a significantly higher rate of preventable hospital admissions due to dental conditions for children who are zero to nine years of age.
The health promotion team at Swan Hill District Health coordinate the Dental Health Services Victoria program, Smiles 4 Miles. The program is delivered to kinders, long day care and family day cares and promotes the message ‘Clean Well’ which focuses on promoting oral health of children and their families.
These screenings give children an opportunity to experience a dental check in a comfortable environment with their peers.
This familiarises children with dental screenings and helps create positive long term habits with dental checks.
Other learning experiences which can be facilitated in early childhood centres and at home can include reading books, singing songs, imaginative play and other activities which encourage brushing teeth and going to the dentist.
Promoting oral health is particularly important in the early years as it helps to form healthy habits which transition into adulthood and promote long term gum and teeth health.
Clean Well messages include:
– Help children clean their teeth and gums twice a day – in the morning and at night before bed.
– For Infants, clean teeth and gums using a damp face washer and start using a children’s toothbrush with water from six months onwards
– From 18 months old, introduce a pea-sized amount of low-fluoride children’s toothpaste using a children’s toothbrush.
– Help children brush their teeth up to the age of six years.
– Visit the dentist by the age of two years and go for regular check-ups every year following.
