JEDDAH, 5 August 2006 — More than 6,000 teachers in different parts of the Kingdom will be trained on educating children on how to take care of their oral and dental health as part of a major health awareness campaign titled “Health is a Smile” that targets at least 200,000 students across the country.

The campaign is carried out by the dental medicine department of the Health Ministry in association with Modern Products Company. Some 60,000 kits will be distributed among schoolchildren all over the country as part of the campaign, Asharq Al-Awsat daily reported.

Ahmed Lingawi, director of external relations at the company, said the campaign was aimed at creating awareness in society about dental diseases and educating children on oral health and protection of teeth.

He said the first phase of the campaign was focused on enhancing the awareness of children on the importance of cleaning their teeth every day.

The campaign follows studies among schoolchildren that insisted on the need for implementing systematic oral health programs for children in Saudi Arabia.

Questionnaires to the mothers demonstrated poor oral hygiene habits of the children and the consumption of sugar was extraordinarily frequent. Annual visits to the dentist were reported for 45 percent of the children and 51 percent of the mothers.

Self-administered questionnaires to teachers (120) revealed positive attitudes toward school-based oral health promotion.

According to another survey covering 130 Saudi children, less than half (44.6 percent) actually had heard about fluoride, and one-third (34.6 percent) correctly identified the action of fluoride as preventing tooth decay.

Almost all the children (97.2 percent) thought that sweets (chocolates/candies) could cause tooth decay. However, a large number of them were not aware of decaying potential of soft drinks (31.5 percent).

More than half (53.1 percent) of the children reported that their dentist taught them how to brush properly. However, 11.5 percent of the children were not taught by any one about proper tooth brushing.

A good number (40.0 percent) thought that one must visit the dentist only in case of pain in the teeth. Dentists were the most popular (61.5 percent) source of oral health information.

The study concluded that the children need further oral health education in areas of caries prevention, and there was a need to utilize parents, schoolteachers and media to enhance their oral health knowledge.