The theme for 2021 is ‘Keep your smile for life’
For dentists and their teams, the first week of August is always a very special week. Why? Because it’s Dental Health Week (DHW).
Okay, okay. This may be the first you’re hearing about this annual event. But it’s one we always put in the Keppel Dental calendar.
Organised by the Australian Dental Association (ADA), it’s our chance to chat about dentistry and oral health even more than normal. (Hard to believe that’s possible, right?) But behind the jokes and our enthusiasm, there’s an important message we want to communicate.
Your gums and teeth need care, too
Just like every other part of your body, you need to take care of your teeth and gums. Exercise keeps your heart fit, stretching helps your muscles out, and teeth cleaning takes care of your gnashers. Many oral health problems develop slowly. So slowly in fact, that you may think everything’s fine and neglect essential daily oral health care. Which is probably why we have such eye-opening statistics as these:
- only one in five adults brush once per day
- 75% of Australians rarely or never clean between their teeth
- 39% of parents report their children drink 2–5 sugary soft drinks each week.
Source: ADA’s Oral Health Tracker
DHW is the dentist industry’s chance to shine a spotlight on this particular part of your health. Consider it a gentle reminder that teeth need some TLC, too.
The theme for the week changes every year. And the theme for 2021 is…
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‘Keep your smile for life’
Your natural teeth are the best ones you have. While modern dentistry has amazing treatment options such as dental implants, cosmetic dentistry and dental restoration, these should be a last resort. Hanging onto your actual teeth is a much better (and much cheaper) option. To help achieve this:
- brush twice a day
- clean between your teeth at least once a day
- eat a healthy, balanced diet that keeps sugar to a minimum
- see your dentist regularly for check-ups and professional cleans.
Add these up, and you lower the chance of suffering tooth decay or gum disease. And that means less time in the dentist chair undergoing costly treatments.
During DHW we’ll be running events online and in the Keppel Dental practice promoting the ‘Keep your smile for life’ theme.
On Facebook we’ll be sharing blogs, articles and video tips from our dentists and oral hygienists. Get the latest info from our people-in-the-know on how to keep your teeth in tip-top condition.
For the more competitive among you, we’re running two competitions.
Children’s colouring in: Pick up the picture from our reception desk, or head to our Facebook page to download and print it out. Drop it back to us when your child is finished, and at the end of the week we’ll pick a winner.
Guess the celebrity smile: This one’s for the grown-ups. Correctly identify the celebrity smiles on the poster in the waiting room, and entered our draw to win an oral health care pack. We’d love you to join in. If you don’t have an appointment planned during this week, follow along by visiting the Keppel Dental Facebook page.
