EARLY Childhood Education (ECE) and primary students of Burns Creek Adventist school, in East Honiara, on Tuesday joined the tooth brushing day celebration.
The day was initiated by the dental department within the Ministry of Health and Medical Service (MHMS) in partnership with Colgate Palmolive Limited of Fiji.
The event was marked in Honiara on Tuesday to encourage young children to brush their teeth daily using Colgate to prevent tooth decay.
As part of celebrating the day dentists from the dental department visited a number of Honiara-based schools including Burns Creek SDA and distributed hundreds of Colgate and tooth brush kits to the young students.
For the young students at Burns Creek it was an exciting day. Armed with their tooth brush, they lined up beside their classroom to brush their teeth and later rinsed their mouth with water with the support from their teachers.
Head of community dental service Dr Elison Vane said it’s important for young and old to brush their teeth with Colgate at all times to avoid tooth decay.
“It’s important to at least brush your teeth twice a day,” Dr Vane said.
He added it is cheaper to keep our teeth clean by using fluoride tooth paste and eat healthy diet.
Tooth decay is a common disease affecting half of the population in our country and it is difficult for dentist to deal with, Dr Vane said.
At Burns Creek, most of the young children were excited to be part of the teeth brushing day and wasted no time to brush their teeth when they were called to go out.
For some of the very young kids at the early childhood education level, it was their first time to experience such an event and they were excited to clean their teeth in a group.
The students while brushing their teeth have been encouraged by their teachers to continue clean their teeth at home in the morning after breakfast and in the evening before going to bed.
One of the teachers said teaching these young kids at an early age about dental hygiene is important so that they can continue to practise it when they grow up.
However, one of the issues being highlighted by the staff is the affordability of Colgate and other toothpastes which are being sold in most shops.
“Many of these struggling families can’t afford to buy Colgate or any other tooth paste which denied many kids from brushing their teeth daily.
“And so it would be good to organise such event to allow these young children to own a tooth brush and paste.”
By MOFFAT MAMU