Oral health awareness

Watch this short animation to highlight the benefits of good oral health and dental care from birth.

Transcript

Do you have a healthy smile? What if your smile looked like this…

Don’t think this could ever happen to you? Well think again, because millions of us are risking the health of our teeth by failing to give them the care and attention they deserve.

Problems with your teeth can affect you at any age.

Babies should be taken to the dentist before  their first birthday to make sure that any potential problems are spotted early and prevented. Little Yasmin here can’t brush her own teeth,
so her parents must help her out until she’s about 7 years old.

Remember to spit out the toothpaste, but don’t rinse afterwards. Rinsing gets rid of all that good fluoride which helps protect tooth enamel.

Bethany has black spots on her teeth. At school, this is affecting her confidence, but this doesn’t have to be the case. A dentist can identify tooth decay and other problems with the development of
teeth, as well as providing solutions to fix them. Bethany can go on to have a smile to be proud of.

Kam has never needed any major dental treatment before. However, his teeth are not as good as they could be. He gums bleed when he brushes and some of his teeth are starting to feel loose. This
is affecting how he eats his food. Kam goes to see his dentist who shows him how to brush and floss effectively to help prevent plaque and keep his gums healthy. Now Kam is free to enjoy food without worrying.

Margaret is missing some teeth and this is causing problems with both her speech and her ability to eat a well-balanced, nutritious diet. Margaret’s dentist can make her a set of dentures to replace the teeth she’s lost.

She isn’t alone: in the UK, nearly 1 in 5 adults require the use of dentures as they reach old age.

There are fixed charges for NHS Dental Treatment. If you are on certain benefits, pregnant, or up to 18 years of age (19 if you’re in full time education), then NHS Dental treatment is free.

When a dentist looks inside your mouth, they are not only checking your teeth. They are also looking for warning signs of problems such as gum disease and mouth cancer and other medical problems such as diabetes. Eating excessive amounts of sugar not only damages your teeth, it can be responsible for type 2 diabetes and is the leading cause of obesity. Eating sugar should be limited to mealtimes only.

Smokers and those that drink excessive amounts of alcohol are up to 30 times more likely to get mouth cancer than those that don’t. Mouth cancer cases have increased steadily over the last decade. Early detection for mouth cancer results in a survival rate of 90%.

However, delayed diagnosis means survival rates plummet to as little as 50% – so seeing a dentist regularly is more important than you might think. Protecting your teeth and maintaining a healthy smile couldn’t be simpler if you:

• Brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste twice a day and floss regularly.
• Watch the amount of sugar in your diet.
• Visit your dentist regularly, so that any problems can be identified and sorted quickly.
• A healthy smile means a healthy life.