February is National Children’s Dental Health Month (NCDHM), an annual observance to promote the benefits of good oral health, sponsored by the American Dental Association (ADA).
The ADA held its first national observance of Children’s Dental Health Day on February 8, 1949. That single-day observance became a week-long event in 1955 and, in 1981, was expanded to a month. Now the month of February is loaded with reminders that developing good oral health habits at an early age and scheduling regular dental visits help children get a good start on having a healthy smile lasting a lifetime. These messages reach millions of people across the nation, with communities offering a variety of ways for children and their parents to be reminded that oral health is essential to overall health and is fostered by caring for teeth and gums.
Supporting programs and initiatives that connect children to the dental services they need is one of the Northeast Delta Dental’s giving priorities. These programs typically teach children how to care for their teeth and gums, give preventive treatment like sealants and fluoride rinses or applications and, for those who don’t have a dental home and need more care, refer them to a local dentist. They tend to be effective because they are community based and supported. I told you about New Hampshire’s CariedAway™ program in my last year’s NCDHM blog post.
We back a program in Maine designed to offer young parents guidance on nutritious foods for healthy teeth. Another facet of the program instructs young dental hygiene students on how to conduct age one evaluations. In New Hampshire, we support the My Smile Buddy program, created to prevent and manage tooth decay in socially-vulnerable young children, offering a cost-effective alternative to traditional dental care. Developed by a multidisciplinary team, it combines behavior change principles and chronic disease management, delivering education and support via a digital platform. A successful three-year trial showed significant improvements in oral health, with high parent satisfaction and reduced caries progression.
Since 2011, we’ve encouraged healthy oral hygiene habits in children age 12 and under through the Oral Health Challenge, jointly with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Children who brush twice and floss once for seven consecutive days, and complete and submit the Oral Health Challengeform, earn two tickets to their choice of one of four Oral Health Challenge games in the Fisher Cats’ season and are invited to participate in an on-field pre-game parade in their honor. This year we’re expanding our long relationship with the Portland Sea Dogs with a new partnership, one facet of which is a similar program called the Brush and Floss Challenge.
Be sure to check out the resources available to you at nedelta.com, like Grin! For Kids, an online publication for children in both English and Spanish.
February is also American Heart Month (or National Heart Month). Since I wrote my February 9, 2024, blog post, telling you about Delta Dental’s collaboration with the American Heart Association on its Healthy Smiles, Healthy Hearts™ initiative, it has added more information on this topic to its website, which you can find here.
It’s important that we all remember that, throughout our lives, oral health will always play an integral role in our general health, something on which both dental professionals and medical professions agree.
