Year-long campaign will reach out to all sections of society to educate them about oral hygiene
Special focus will be given to mothers and teachers to educate children about the importance of regular oral hygiene.
Oral screenings will be conducted across schools in Dubai and the data will be compiled into a research to get an estimate of the number of school children with cavities.
Mobile Dental Bus Unit will be launched at the end of the year, to reach out to a wider audience base.
United Arab Emirates, Dubai - The Dubai Health Authority and Signal, one of Unilever's leading oral-care brands, launched today a year-long dental awareness campaign to reach out to various sections of the society and educate them about the importance of oral hygiene.
The campaign known as ' Dubai Healthy Smiles,' was launched at the Dubai Centre for Special Needs by His Excellency Ahmad Bin Kalban, CEO of Primary Health Care at the DHA, Dr Tariq Khoory, Director of Dental Services at the DHA, Kenneth Lingan, Marketing Director, Unilever Gulf and Mahshid Salehi, Director of the Dubai Centre for Special Needs.
His Excellency Ahmad Bin Kalban, CEO of Primary Health Care, inaugurated the campaign and said, "The aim of this campaign is to reach out to all sections of society, especially children and educate them about the importance of oral hygiene because they are more likely to carry these habits into adulthood. The campaign is in line with the DHA's strategy to focus on preventative aspect of healthcare by conducting community awareness initiatives. We are pleased to launch this campaign at the Dubai Centre for Special Needs and are glad to partner with Signal in this regard."
Dr Tariq Khoory, Director of Dental Services, Primary Health Care Sector, at the DHA said: " This campaign is of crucial importance because we find that one of the main causes of dental problems arises because of the lack of awareness and therefore while we will pay special attention to children, we will also target other audiences like geriatric patients, because maintaining regular oral care is important for all ages in order to prevent dental problems such as dental decay and gum disease. "
Dr Khoory highlighted that over course of the next one year, the campaign shall reach out to the community through our awareness initiatives in governmental departments, schools, women's clubs and associations, DHA primary health care centres and geriatric centres.
Kenneth Lingan, Marketing Director, Unilever Gulf states said, "We are delighted to partner with the Dubai Health Authority to educate consumers about oral-care and encourage a change in behaviour. Unilever is committed to encouraging people to look after their oral health. One way we do this is through our ongoing school programmes where we teach children about dental hygiene and how to brush their teeth properly. We believe children can be strong agents of change. Our target is to reach 500,000 consumers by the end of 2011 through many initiatives across multiple touch points in the UAE."
Mahshid Salehi, Director of the Dubai Centre for Special Needs said, "Every child at our centre in unique in their own way and they face their own challenges. Many of them do have oral problems. Therefore we are very glad that this campaign is educating our children and their families on how to maintain regular oral hygiene."
Dr Nadia Mohammed Saleh, Assistant Director of Dental Services, Primary Health Care, at the DHA said, "It is a known fact that oral health and hygiene begins at a young age. Hence, the campaign will provide special attention to mothers and teachers to ensure they take on a more active role in educating their children about how to maintain healthy teeth and gums by practicing life-long regular oral care. Through this campaign, we will empower them with education regarding oral health and dietary advice.
"We find that there is a high incidence of dental decay and this can be prevented by following a high standard of oral hygiene. To reach out to school children, we will hold awareness initiatives in schools and will conduct oral screenings for children to assess the extent to which treatment is required. We will then compile the data of the screenings into a research to get data about the number of school children with caries, missing teeth and fillings."
Dr Khaled Fargali, Head of General Dentistry Section at the DHA said, "The campaigns will comprise of lectures, demonstrations and educational materials such as brochures and leaflets will be distributed. Moreover, for school children between the ages of 3 to 11 years, the DHA, will use special dental toys to demonstrate how to brush one's teeth correctly."
Dr Khoory highlighted that this year's campaign will pay special attention to those patients who are medically compromised, diabetics( since they are more prone to develop gum disease and other dental problems) and geriatric patients.
The DHA will also conduct awareness initiative across schools and other remote areas, using the mobile dental units, which will be launched at the end of this year. Dr Khoory said, "The mobile units will be equipped with an x-ray section and will have other state-of-the-art facilities. The units will be designed to have a clinic set-up. We will use this unit to carry out our preventative services such as fluoride varnishing etc as well as curative services such as basic caries restoration."
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For more information, please contact
Kamakshi Gupta
Communications Analyst
Dubai Health Authority
009714 2197455
klgupta@dha.gov.ae
© Press Release 2011
