February is National Children’s Dental Health Month
If you are a parent — or grandparent, like I am, you spend many years checking fevers, putting bandages on scrapes and protecting your children from illness, bumps and bruises. We protect them not only for today, but for tomorrow.
As a dentist, I also know that a child’s oral health is just as important, and plays a determining role in almost every aspect of their day-to-day lives.
Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of children 6 to 11 years and adolescents 12 to 19 years, and nine out of 10 young adults over the age of 20 have some degree of tooth decay.
Often we take our oral health for granted until we face issues with our mouths. Good or bad oral health habits can directly impact school attendance, employment status (more than $6 billion of productivity is lost each year because people miss work to get dental care), as well as daily tasks such as eating and speaking.
More importantly for all of us, oral disease has been linked with other chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
National Children’s Dental Health Month provides a great opportunity to talk to our children about oral health while teaching them healthy habits that will last a lifetime.
The American Dental Association’s theme for this year’s campaign centers on proper daily hygiene.
Delta Dental of Tennessee believes “Brushing is Fun,” as seen in our free video series that you can watch with your children. The earlier children can learn about taking care of their teeth, the better.
Teach them that it’s so much more than just having white teeth, because healthy smiles can impact self-esteem, mental wellbeing and overall health.
We are celebrating children across the state during National Children’s Dental Health Month.
In Nashville, from Jan. 30 to Feb. 4, we are sponsoring the family-friendly Broadway musical,
The King & I at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC).
In Knoxville, we are sponsoring a series of Children’s Dental Health Month activities at Muse Knoxville, including on-site special programming on February 3, and school outreach programs taking place all month.
In Memphis, we are sponsoring a new film, Dream Big 3D at the Pink Palace starting February 10 and running through September. The film focuses on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Delta Dental is committed to STEM subjects, especially science, which studies the importance of oral health, as well as promotes careers in dentistry for our children.
We hope you and your family can attend one of these fun programs in February and help support healthy smiles together.