National Smile Month to Launch on May 20th

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The British Dental Health Foundation’s annual oral health campaign, National Smile Month, is set to commence on May 20th.

The campaign, which is designed to raise awareness of oral health matters and improve standards of oral health across the country, is supported by Listerine, Oral-B and Lloyds Pharmacy and this year is also promoting water saving initiatives in conjunction with 19 water companies.

Statistics show that there have been improvements in oral health over the last three decades, however, oral health diseases are still very common and experts believe that 1 in 10 adults suffer from tooth pain and around a third of children aged 4 and 5 years old have decay. Tooth decay remains one of the most common preventable childhood illnesses and dentists across the UK have reported an increase in the number of young children, sometimes as young as 2 years old, requiring extractions under general anaesthetic.

Surveys also suggest that many people in the UK neglect oral hygiene, thus increasing the risk of oral health disease. Experts estimate that one quarter of adults fail to brush their teeth for two minutes twice a day and the same proportion have not had a dental check-up over the course of the last two years.

Simon Howell, director of fundraising at the British Dental Health Foundation, said that the campaign has received a great deal of support from a range of different companies and thanked all those who had backed National Smile Month.

 

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