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Worldental Daily, Thursday, 30 August 2012

A Live.Learn.Laugh partnership project in Sri Lanka is set to improve oral health stan- dards among Sri Lankan school- children in 50 schools in the Kurunegala District by developing a programme for oral health edu- cation. Under the title “Disseminate the ‘Brush twice daily with a fluoride toothpaste’message among school- children and acquisition of healthy behaviour via the school system”, the project is to be run by the Sri Lanka Dental Association and Unilever’s Signal brand. It will focus on a behaviour-change programme to encourage twice daily brushing, as well as on raising awareness of dental caries, periodontal disease andoralcancerthroughseminarsfor children. Screening and treatment of high-risk child patients will also be provided. After receiving training in oral healtheducationfromdentalprofes- sionals, school teachers will teach their students about the importance ofaneffectiveoralhygieneroutineto protect themselves from caries and maintain good oral health. Following these lessons, student leaders will begin working with dental surgeons, dental therapists and teachers to set up school health clubs, through which they will teach their peers about the importance of twice daily brushing with a fluoride toothpaste, using educational materials devel- oped by the partners. In order to ensurethattheimprovementsinoral healtharesustainable,studentlead- ers will train another set of leaders, with the help of their teachers, to take over the responsibilities of the school health club once the current group has completed its primary schooling. The prevalence of dental disease in Sri Lankan children is very high. According to recent statistics, the decayed, missing and filled teeth score for five- to six-year-olds is 3.6, and 65 per cent of this age group suffers from dental caries, whilst three out of four 12-year-olds suffer from gum disease. Please remember to visit the Live.Learn.Laugh.partnershipstand to find out more about the exciting oral health-improvement projects taking place around the world. News Thursday, 30 August 2012 I nternational consumables man- ufacturerColgate-Palmolivean- nounced an extension of its Bright Smiles, Bright Futures oral health programme yesterday at the FDI World Dental Congress in Hong Kong. The programme will target more than 10,000 preschool chil- dren in 100 kindergartens in Hong Kong from September onwards in order to promote better oral health care and to prevent early tooth de- cay among these children. Asearlychildhoodcariesispreva- lent among young children in Hong Kong, the company partnered with the University of Hong Kong to pro- mote better oral health care in this age group. According to Dr Chun Hung Chu, Clinical Associate Pro- fessor in Community and Family Dentistry and Assistant Dean at the university’s Faculty of Dentistry, a re- cent survey of 10,956 preschool chil- dren receiving oral health treatment through the campaign revealed that about 40 per cent of those children were suffering from tooth decay. In almost all cases, the condition had been left untreated, he said. “We are very proud to partner with the University of Hong Kong to continue Bright Smiles, Bright Futures in Hong Kong. With the sup- port and expertise of the university’s scholars, our programme will help improve the oral health of preschool children through free education and prevention,” said Judy Chan, Associ- ate Marketing Director at Colgate- Palmolive Hong Kong. With the start of the new school year in Hong Kong, the manufacturer will be providing free training work- shops for kindergarten teachers to equip them with adequate knowl- edge and skills in oral health care education. In addition, the company will be delivering oral health educa- tion materials, including dental mod- els, a cartoon video, posters, book- lets, toothpaste and toothbrushes for children, to local kindergartens from next month onwards. “Our aim is to make oral health careapartofthechildren’sdailyrou- tine in order to empower them to be responsiblefortheirownoralhealth. The programme was thus designed to fit into the existing curricula of localkindergartens,”saidDrMarsha Butler, Colgate-Palmolive’s Vice- President of Global Professional Relations and Marketing. AccordingtoChan,thefirstphase of the campaign, which was initiated in September 2010 and reached over 10,000 preschool children too, was very well received. “Over 95 per cent of teachers from about 80 partici- pating kindergartens, who were sur- veyed during the first phase, were very satisfied with programme. They agreed that they had learned ‘quite a lot’ or ‘a great deal’ about early dental health care,” she said. Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures campaign has reached more than 650 million children in 80 coun- tries since 1991. According to the company, it is among the most far- reaching, successful children’s oral health initiatives in the world. The programme was developed by Col- gate-Palmolive in collaboration with an advisory board of internation- al educational dental experts and tested with children and teachers in the classroom. “For over 40 years, Colgate has been committed to delivering oral health education to children around the world. This commitment to giving children the tools they need to make good oral health a permanent part of their lives continues in the Hong Kong communitythroughtheBrightSmiles, Bright Future programme,” said But- ler.“Fromthebeginning,ourcompany forged partnerships with different dental associations and institutions in order to raise awareness of dental hygiene at the earliest possible age byteachingchildrenthebasics.” AccordingtoChu,theprogramme will run for another two years. Colgate-Palmolive extends oral health campaign 02 www.fdiworldental.org I Group picture with children. More than 10,000 children will benefit from Colgates Bright Smiles, Bright Futures pro- gramme in the next two years. WDDispublishedbytheFDIWorldDentalFederationinpartnershipwithDentalTribuneInternationalGmbH(DTI). FDI Communications Manager: Christopher M. Simpson Managing Editor: Daniel Zimmermann Editorial Assistance: Claudia Duschek Product Manager: Bernhard Moldenhauer Photographer: Wallace Chan Designer: Franziska Dachsel Executive Producer: Gernot Meyer fdi worldental daily FDIWorld Dental Federation Tour de Cointrin, Avenue Louis Casai 84, Case Postale 3, 1216 Cointrin – Genève Switzerland Phone: +41 22 560 81 50 Fax: +41 22 560 81 40 E-mail: media@fdiworldental.org Website: www.fdiworldental.org FDIWorldental Daily appears during the FDI AnnualWorld Dental Congress inHongKong,29August–1September2012.Thenewspaperandallarticles and illustrations therein are protected by copyright. Any utilisation with- out prior consent from the editor or publisher is inadmissible and liable to prosecution.The FDI or DTI will not be liable for any damages of any kind or loss of profits that might arise from information found in this publication, regardless of whether the FDI or DTI has been advised of the possibility of such damages. While all attempts have been made to ensure the accuracy oftheprovidedinformation,neitherFDInorDTIcanbeheldresponsiblefor any errors or omissions. fdi DentalTribune International GmbH Holbeinstraße 29 04229 Leipzig, Germany Phone: +49 341 48474-302 Fax: +49 341 48474-173 E-mail: info@dental-tribune.com Web: www.dental-tribune.com About the Publisher BrightSmiles,BrightFuturestobenefit10,000preschoolchildreninHongKong PartnershiprunsoralhealthpromotionprojectinSriLanka IA Sri Lankan primary school student demonstrating a good toothbrushing techniquetoherteachersandpeersduringanoralhealtheducationsession. Live.Learn.Laugh. continues with great strength