Australasian Dentist Issue 89

Category 12 AustrAlAsiAn Dentist D ental Health Week is the Australian Dental Association’s major annual oral health promotion campaign to educate Australians about good oral health in every aspect of their lives. the theme for 2021 is “Keep your smile for life” with the 4 key messages being: u Brush teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. u Clean between your teeth daily using floss or interdental brushes. u eat a healthy, balanced diet and limit added sugar intake. u Visit the dentist regularly for check- ups and preventive care. Philips’ focus is to improve people’s health and enable better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. to that end, Philips has worked closely with dental practitioners to develop tools to assist patients achieve oral health when the dental practitioner can’t be there to guide them. through the sonicare range of power toothbrushes, Philips has developed a variety of solutions for plaque control, to target gum disease and to help patients achieve and maintain a brighter smile for life. sonicare’s sonic technology creates a unique brush head movement of high frequency and high amplitude in a wide sweeping motion, giving 62,000 bristle movements per minute. this unique movement results in a dynamic cleaning action that drives fluid between teeth, gently and effectively removing plaque interdentally and along the gum line. the movement drives toothpaste and saliva deeper between the teeth to disrupt plaque biofilm; the fluoride in the toothpaste can then aid in remineralization and the saliva can physically clean food and debris from between the teeth. to kick start lifelong healthy habits, Philips has developed sonicare for Kids which is a fun way to inspire better brushers and is the only power toothbrush designed specifically with children in mind. it has a variety of features including an ergonomic handle allowing for an easy grip for a child and parent to brush together and a KidPacer and Kidtimer which help increase brushing time by encouraging brushing with musical notes, and over time the child reaching a full 2 minute brushing cycle. it also has Bluetooth wireless technology and a Coaching App that work together to motivate children to brush independently and to help them learn about oral care through play, making brushing a fun and educational experience! the Coaching App’s central character is the loveable sparkly, who really likes to have clean teeth. Children take care of sparkly while the app’s brushing coach challenges them to brush longer and better. each time the child brushes well, sparkly gets happier and each successful brushing session is rewarded. Children can unlock accessories to personalize their sparkly, or they can win food for sparkly, who likes to eat healthy. in 2019, Philips sonicare partnered with life education to remind Australia that it is never too early or too late to start taking care of oral health, to inspire future generations develop lifelong healthcare habits. A survey conducted at that time found that u 71% of Australian parents struggled to n ws By Dr Hera Dimitriadis APPLE + ALOE We explored flavour combinations. And we discovered apple, aloe vera and fresh mint. CURAPROX 950 ppm Fluride .... Apple banner.indd 1 23/11/2020 2:32:43 PM Dental Health Week 2-8 August 2021 Keep your smile for life Philips’ answer to developing good habits for life is Sonicare for Kids! Continued page 14