There’s a lot going on this National Smile Month, including free online dental resources and competitions for children and adults alike. Discover how you and your patients can make the most of this annual event for championing good oral health.

As patients slowly leave behind their winter comforts and embrace the renewed daylight, the last thing on their mind is usually oral health, but that’s soon to change. National Smile Month is back in 2024 and it’s more ambitious than ever. Whether this is your first time participating in National Smile Month, or not, this article will help you get to know what’s happening this NSM and how it can benefit you and your practice.

If you are a dental practitioner, we have an abundance of helpful articles written to help you with the day-to-day running of your practice. If you’d like to learn more about endodontics and endo motors, please read our articles ‘Endodontics, are you a lover or a hater?’ and ‘Which endo motor should I use in 2024?’. If you’d like to learn more about equipment servicing, please consider our articles Increase the efficiency of your practice, and Is your practice looking after its dental chair?. Finally, consider our article on our fourth consecutive year as a planet mark certified organisation.

What is National Smile Month? 
Held between the 13th of May and the 13th of June, National Smile Month is a charity-driven campaign by the Oral Health Foundation. The campaign has any number of actionable initiatives for those within the dental profession, whether it be adding educational banners to your email footer with one of their custom images, or it’s participating in events such as ‘the Great British Brushathon.’ National Smile Month is a wonderful event designed to capture the attention of adults and children alike and encourage them to set good dental habits. These habits include four key messages, which are as follows:

  • Brush teeth for two minutes, last thing at night and one other time during the day, with a fluoride toothpaste. 
  • Clean between your teeth with interdental brushes or floss and use mouthwash every day (separately to brushing!) 
  • Cut down how much and how often you have sugary foods and drinks. 
  • Visit a dentist regularly, at least every six months. 


Each of these four key habits are, as you’ll likely agree, are vital to support good dental health. While these key points may seem simple and fundamental to dental professionals, this simplicity makes National Smile Month an enjoyable, approachable event for patients who may otherwise feel uninterested or intimidated by most oral health practices. It’s this clear, concise, accessible messaging which helps make National Smile Month so effective.

What’s happening this National Smile Month?
This National Smile Month is already packed with plenty of events and initiatives to help drive awareness. At time of publication, the following are some of the initiatives being held between the 13th of May and the 13th of June.

The Dental Buddy Pack 
This is a downloadable information pack for use in the classroom, practice, or home. A free, educational resource for children regarding the importance of proper brushing, dentist visits, and sharing information on the role of sugar in a proper diet. The Dental Buddy is useful for teachers, parents, and guardians looking to teach children under 11 the importance of good oral health. Each pack contains an interactive presentation, a lesson plan and worksheet to help assist with learning.

Daily Health Checklist
A downloadable checklist to help users keep on top of their dental health every day. This list also includes other basic health tasks, such as meditation and exercise. This can be very helpful for patients who are struggling to keep a set dental health routine and would benefit from the structure of a daily checklist. This list will also help with tracking progress and may provide a sense of progress and accountability to patients.

‘Share A Smile’ Selfies
A simple, easy competition for adults to spread awareness of National Smile Month and look good doing it! Simply order one of the Oral Health Foundation’s ‘Smileys’ and take a selfie using it with the hashtags #mysmileyselfie and #smilemonth to enter! The three winning entries will be contacted and sent four tickets to local comedy shows near them. That’s something to smile about!

The Great British Brushathon
The great British Brushathon is another social media-led awareness initiative, where participants take selfies or videos of themselves brushing their teeth, use the #GreatBritishBrushathon and encourage others to join them.

Resources:


Disclaimer: We are not responsible for third-party content and links.