20th March every year marks World Oral Health Day. This is a day to promote good oral health the world over.
Run by the FDI – World Dental Federation, the 2017 campaign theme is ‘Live Mouth Smart’ – Empowering people to take control of their oral health throughout their life.
When people think of oral health, they usually just assume it is referring to the health of your teeth and gums. In fact, it is more than that! It also includes your tongue, cheeks, palate and even the upper part of your throat.
Obviously, some of these areas are difficult for you to check yourself. This is why regular appointments with your dentist and hygienist are so important. However, there are various things that you can do which will ensure your mouth is the healthiest it can be.
It is all very well for dentists and hygienists to continually advocate good oral hygiene, and it is their job to do so after all. The problem arises if you don’t fully understand the reasons why, and then it is easy for the message to fall on deaf ears.
The World Oral Health Day website states that –
A healthy mouth allows you to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow and convey a range of emotions with confidence and without pain, discomfort and disease. No matter what your age – 5, 25, 65 or 85 years – oral health is vital to your general health and well-being.
Oral health is strongly linked with your general health and well-being. Therefore, making smart choices in your daily life can help to safeguard the health of your mouth right the way into old age.
Adopt and maintain a good daily oral hygiene routine
Avoid risk factors such as: tobacco, high levels of alcohol and unhealthy, sugar rich diets
Regular dental appointments
Promote good oral health to others – children pick up on so much of daily life that they see happening around them
You can also find out more about World Oral Health Day here.
As dental professionals, it can be difficult to know what more we can do to help people with their oral hygiene, other than giving the standard spiel on brushing and flossing. Therefore, it becomes very easy to just sit in our surgeries and continue with the daily grind of dental exams and treatments.
However, this year we thought about doing something a little more pro-active to help the local community.
Joined by the staff at our sister practice, Essential Dental, we will be donating oral hygiene kits to North Herts Sanctuary. These will consist of a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a pack of floss. It may not seem like much, but think about how it would affect you if you didn’t have access to such basic items – When life is tough, they can play a small but very important part to help people to resume a bit of normality.
Who are North Herts Sanctuary and what do they do?
‘Providing shelter and targeted support to people in need’
North Herts Sanctuary is ‘a 17-bed night hostel, providing temporary accommodation for homeless people. Residents are entitled to a hot evening meal, breakfast and a packed lunch. The hostel amenities include showers, washing and laundry facilities, computer suite and TV room.’
For more information on North Herts Sanctuary, please visit their website here
They are located very near to the practice, which is why we thought they would be ideal as our chosen charity to donate to this World Oral Health Day. We will be dropping the kits off to the North Herts Sanctuary site on the corner of Nightingale Road and Grove Road later today!
Best wishes
Bancroft Dentistry
Hitchin
Hertfordshire
