National Smile Month – 15th May to 15th June 2017

A healthy smile can be a great asset.  Not only can it benefit us socially and help us in other things such as our careers and relationships, but it also has many more practical benefits.

Our teeth have such an important role to play in our lives.  They help us chew and digest food, they help us to talk and speak clearly and they also give our face its shape.  Because of this, it only makes sense to give our oral health the best care possible.

National Smile Month is our chance to take a look at our oral health, learn more about why a healthy smile is so important and share tips on how to improve and maintain it.

Our three key messages are the ‘bread and butter’ principles for developing great oral health:

• Brush your teeth last thing at night and on at least one other occasion with a fluoride toothpaste
• Cut down on how often you have sugary foods and drinks
• Visit your dentist regularly, as often as they recommend

These messages provide a good starting point for us but there’s so much more we can learn.  Take a look at some top tips for great oral health to find out other things we could do to improve the state of our mouth.

A staggering number of us brush for less than two minutes, our diet as a nation has become over-reliant on added sugars while millions of us haven’t seen a dentist in the last two years.

The consequences of these over a long period of time, can lead to unnecessary, invasive and expensive treatment.  There are direct oral health problems that can arise such as gum disease and tooth decay while the repercussions of poor oral health go further than our mouth.

An increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, dementia, complications during pregnancy and male sexual health problems are just a few of the likely outcomes of not looking after our teeth.

Visit the Healthy Gums, Health Body page to learn more about the links between our oral health and general health.

The benefits of developing and maintaining a healthy mouth are clear for all of us to see, as are the dangers of an unhealthy mouth.  Following the basic rules and adopting a sensible daily routine should be high on all our agendas.  By using National Smile Month as an opportunity to prioritise our oral health, we will soon see what a remarkably positive difference it makes to many aspects of our lives.