National Smile Month 2015 is here!

This year’s National Smile Month is set to be a great one with over 1,500 oral health events and activities scheduled to take place across the UK, and with 3,500 medical practices and organisations pledging their support. The awareness month, which began on 18th May and runs for a month, is sponsored by well-known names such as Oral-B, Invisalign and Wrigley.

So what is National Smile Month? In short, it is a campaign run by the British Dental Health Foundation which aims to raise our awareness of the importance of looking after our oral health, and to give us the knowledge and skills we need to maintain this. National Smile Month is described as the UK’s ‘largest and longest-running oral health campaign’, and hopes to reach over half a million patients over the duration of the campaign.

National Smile Month is so-called in line with the belief of the British Dental Foundation that a smile is a very important and powerful gesture that we have at our disposal. The charity points out smiles are very emotive, and can raise our self-confidence. In addition, smiles encourage positivity towards us from others in many aspects of our lives, including at work, at home in our relationships and our overall body image. With smiles being so important, it is vital that we do our best to maintain them. Keeping a good oral health routine is a key part of this.

Three core pieces of advice underpin National Smile Month, and these are as follows:

• Always ensure you brush your teeth twice a day. Do this at bedtime, and at least one other occasion during the day.
• Cut back on the amount of sugary drinks and food you consume.
• Make sure you attend your routine dental check-ups.

Through the events and activities run during the month, it is hoped that participants will feel more confident and better equipped to follow these pieces of advice, and to maintain great oral health.

Anyone can get involved in National Smile Month: there are many ways to take part. The National Smile Month website is packed full of ideas from setting up a toothbrush exchange to running a healthy food check, from leaflets and information sheets to hosting a Smileathon. The website also has links to lots of resources and tools that you might need to run an event. So if you’re a member of a group or club, or are linked for example with a local school, why not look into the possibilities and see how you can get involved – it is guaranteed to put a smile on your face!