CDHA Celebrating World Oral Health Day

On March 20, oral health professionals around the world will celebrate World Oral Health Day (www.worldoralhealthday.com), a global awareness campaign to highlight the prevalence of oral disease and the importance of preventive care for maintaining good oral and overall health across the lifespan.

“Oral health is essential to overall physical, social, and mental well-being,” explains Gerry Cool, president of the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA). “It affects our ability to eat, laugh, speak, and smile, and is a risk factor for serious health complications such as diabetes, respiratory and heart diseases, and stroke, if compromised.”  As primary health care providers, dental hygienists play a vital role in preventing and detecting oral health problems.  They examine your head, neck, and mouth at every dental hygiene appointment, make referrals when necessary, and will work with you to develop an oral hygiene plan that will ensure your best overall health possible.

“Canadian dental hygienists are proud to join in the fight to reduce the global burden of oral diseases by helping people of all ages to maintain a healthy smile,” Cool adds. “Preventive oral care, along with making healthy lifestyle choices and scheduling regular dental appointments, is one of the best ways to ‘Live Mouth Smart,’ as the World Oral Health Day campaign tells us.”  To that end, CDHA also sponsors Canada’s National Dental Hygienists Week™ (www.cdha.ca/NDHW), which takes place from April 8 to 14 as part of Oral Health Month.  Together, National Dental Hygienists Week™ and World Oral Health Day offer positive reminders for all Canadians of the importance of oral health for overall health.

Serving the profession since 1963, CDHA is the collective national voice of more than 28,495 registered dental hygienists working in Canada, directly representing 18,000 individual members including dental hygienists and students. Dental hygiene is the 6th largest registered health profession in Canada with professionals working in a variety of settings, including independent dental hygiene practice, with people of all ages, addressing issues related to oral health. For more information on oral health, visit: www.dentalhygienecanada.ca.

 

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