Get ready to show some love to your teeth this Dental Health Week

"Love your teeth" is the overall theme of the 2022 DHW campaign, whose key messages aim to reinforce the importance of maintaining good oral health throughout the entirety of a person’s life:

- Brush teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste;
- Clean between your teeth daily using floss or interdental brushes;
- Eat a healthy diet that is low in added sugar; and
- Visit the dentist regularly for check-ups and preventive care.

This year’s DHW campaign uses a theme created and designed by Dr Elice Chen, an ADA member based in Victoria. The winner of a contest held in November 2021 which asked ADA members to submit a catchy campaign concept for the ADA’s flagship oral health promotional event, Dr Chen is committed to advocating for oral health for her patients and in the community. There is no better time to help your patients understand the importance of practising good oral health; throughout its run and beyond, DHW gives you a highly visible platform to drive this important message home.
 

DHW Resources Kit

To help make the most of the week, the ADA has created a range of items which you and your team can use to help get the ‘love your teeth’ message out into your local community. The resource kit, which is available for download from dentalhealthweek.com.au, contains the following items:

- An event handbook;
- Colouring-in images;
- Bunting for decorating your dental clinic;
- Posters that can be easily printed at your local print shop or Offceworks;
- A PowerPoint template on oral health for all your presentation needs;
- A general article to help you reach out to local media;
- Social media posts, infographics, and digital banners; and
- T-shirt design.

With a busy work schedule, you may not find it possible to get out of the clinic this DHW, but don’t worry – there are other great ways to get involved! 

For instance, you can help to make a difference this DHW by helping the ADA to raise funds for the Australian Dental Health Foundation (adhf.org.au) which coordinates the delivery of pro bono dental treatment to disadvantaged members of the community through a number of volunteer programs such as Rebuilding Smiles and Dental Rescue Days. Your involvement, whether as an individual or a practice will make a difference for disadvantaged Australians who are otherwise unable to access much needed dental care.

To support this fundraising initiative, Colgate has kindly agreed to donate oral hygiene kits that will be provided to recipients of dental care facilitated by the ADHF. For every $10 raised by a dental practitioner or dental clinic as part of the DHW fundraising event, Colgate will donate one oral hygiene kit.

We have created an information kit and resources to help you with your fundraising efforts. ACCESS THE KIT.
 

ADA social channels

Be sure to follow ADA’s social media pages to keep up to date with resources available for Dental Health Week. You will find useful information on both the ADA’s Facebook and Instagram pages as well as on the ADA member-only community network, Peer.

We also have community social media channels on Facebook and Instagram – our handle is @teeth.org.au – where we post consumer-oriented oral health messages, which we encourage you to share on your practice’s social feeds.
 

Member giveaway

If you have an interest in providing education on oral health to school children, take advantage of our Colgate-sponsored giveaway, available to ADA members, which provides up to three Bright Smiles, Bright Futures kits to ADA members. These kits contain a range of lesson plans, storybooks, online games and posters/ brochures/stickers to make your lessons come alive.

Applications for these kits must be submitted before midnight Sunday 12 June to ensure delivery in time for Dental Health Week.
 

Other oral health resources that can help

Oral health podcast
ADA’s oral health education podcast Watch your mouth includes easy to understand oral health information that can be listened to on-the-go. The first series focuses on infant and young child oral health, hosted by Jimmy Rees, aka Jimmy Giggle from Giggle and Hoot.

School lessons
Together with SugarByHalf, the ADA has created school lessons aligned with the national curriculum, free for teachers to download and use. These lessons incorporate oral health into 5/6 maths and 9/10 science. Promote these lessons to local schools, or better yet, use the Guardians of the gums lessons yourself when talking to Prep to Year 2.

ADA’s books
ADA’s children storybook Guardians of the Gums, created together with BeeHealthy Stories and SugarByHalf, tells the battle faced by the Guardians of the Gums in protecting teeth from sugar and bacteria. A free e-book is available.

ADA’s Tooth-friendly treats cookbook was created as part of Dental Health Week 2020 and features 20 tooth-friendly recipes by ADA-member dentists. Find these books at teeth.org.au’s shop.

Pro-tips videos
Share ADA’s oral health pro-tips videos on social media or in your clinic. These can be found on teeth.org.au and YouTube.