Lifting the lip a key to healthy smiles

Lifting the lip a key to healthy smiles
Media Release For Immediate Publication

New Zealand parents are being urged to take a look into their children’s mouths as an important step towards better oral health.

The ‘Lift the Lip’promotion is just one of the initiatives being highlighted during Starship Hospital’s Oral Health Campaign starting this week, in a bid to improve New Zealand’s disappointing child cavity statistics.

Dr Clive Ross, Clinical Director of Oral Health, ADHB says "The overall status of children’s teeth in New Zealand is by no means something we can be proud of yet, with 49% of the country’s 5-year-olds and 53% of 8-year-olds showing dental caries, according to the Ministry of Health data from 2007. He says sweet drinks, sub optimal diet and poor tooth brushing practices are significant contributors to this unacceptable level of dental caries.

Auckland Regional Dental Service Manager Heather Stewart says the ‘Lift the Lip’ campaign encourages parents and all health providers to check children’s teeth as a normal part of health care. “Parents are used to checking children over as they wash them but they often shy away from looking into their mouths”. She says the ‘Lift the Lip’ programme teaches people how to lift back a toddler’s lip so they can spot any potential problems and she says the earlier parents start the better. “Parents should start checking as soon as teeth appear and if they notice any dark spots they should take children for a check up.”says Heather Stewart.

Getting children into the Regional Dental Service is also being promoted at Starship Hospital. Child Community Service Manager Kathy Peacock says a lot of parents don’t realise the free service is available for preschoolers as well as school children and adolescents up till the age of 18.

Macleans is supporting the Oral Health promotion by donating 10 cents from every product sold during the campaign to the Starship Foundation along with giving away 10,000 toothbrushes and 10 000 tooth pastes.

Kathy Peacock says the giveaways are a hit with Starship patients and families and provide a great starting point for staff to talk to kids about teeth care. “It’s a boost for the kids to be able to go home with a new toothbrush and hopefully be more aware of how important it is to use it” says Kathy Peacock.

ENDS

© Scoop Media