A child practising teeth brushing
PARENTS HAVE been urged to brush their teeth twice daily with fluoride toothpaste to set a good example to their children and protect their smiles in the future.
A new global study commissioned by Pepsodent and released to mark World Oral Health Day recently, which made this known, said a third of children around the world were failing to brush their teeth twice a day.
Based on this research, a concerning issue has emerged—a failure to brush at bedtime, something that is proven to cause health and social issues in children for both short and long term.
Five thousand parents and children were surveyed across eight countries, revealing that 30% of children do not brush twice a day and one in four doesn’t brush every night.
It was discovered that children who skipped the bed time brush were twice as likely to have poor oral health as those who brushed every night. They were also over 40% more likely to experience frequent oral pain, making them miss twice as many days at school.
Around the world, this equates to a potential 293.5 million missed school days over the course of one year due to oral pain.
Poor oversight by parents
Despite most parents reporting that their children brushed twice a day, when questioned, 39% said they sometimes let them go to bed without brushing. Nearly four in 10 admitted they let their children skip brushing as a reward.
Dr. Edward Ohene-Marfo explains, “Brushing both day and night can cut tooth decay up to 50% for children compared to brushing once daily. Brushing at night is critical as children’s mouths also produce less saliva when they sleep meaning germs and bacteria have the perfect environment to thrive.”
Since 2005, Pepsodent has partnered with the FDI (World Dental Federation), an independent organisation representing over a million dentists, on its “Brush Day and Night” campaign as well as World Oral Health Day each year, to drive awareness and promote oral health.
As part of this ongoing commitment, Pepsodent has developed “Brush, Story, Sleep” with behaviour change and dental experts. This initiative, to be launched today, will coincide with World Oral Health Day 2020, the largest global awareness campaign for oral health.
Joel Boateng, Category Manager, Unilever Ghana, says, “We are delighted to introduce “The Adventures of Little Brush Big Brush” storybook and a night-time brushing calendar from Pepsodent, as engaging tools to make brushing fun, so that children will look forward to brushing before bed.”
By Samuel Boadi