"Healthy starts in the mouth - brushing your teeth at school"
Chemnitz City Health Department takes part in the nationwide Dental Health Day on 28 September and 1 October with two tooth brushing festivals
On 25 September 2013 and around this date, Dental Health Day will be celebrated nationwide with a variety of high-profile campaigns. This year's motto is "Healthy starts in the mouth - brushing teeth goes to school" and there will be a big tooth brushing festival in Chemnitz on two days: OnSaturday, 28 September , adults and children will brush their teeth together from 2:30 p.m. at the Morgenleite kindergarten - and anyone can support this open day campaign at this facility by taking part. On Tuesday, 1 October , there will be a tooth brushing party for all primary school pupils at the Protestant school centre on Tschaikowskistraße. The regional dental health working group will be on site with many activity stands. Dangerous dental plaque can be visualised under special lighting in a caries tunnel. Of course, every participant will also have the opportunity to brush their teeth under professional guidance.
According to the city's health department, highlights such as these two tooth-brushing festivals are held in Chemnitz every year around 25 September, the nationwide Dental Health Day. Medical officer Dr Liebhard Monzer, head of the health department: "The campaigns complete the continuous and comprehensive dental care provided to day-care centres and schools in the city of Chemnitz. There has been a steady improvement in oral health in the city of Chemnitz.
In the 2005/06 school year, for example, 46.1 per cent of six-year-olds had healthy teeth. In the last school year 2012/13, the figure was already 59.6 per cent."
However, according to the public health officer, healthy children's teeth don't just happen on their own: oral hygiene is essential. Brushing teeth should become a habit as early as possible. Building up habits according to the motto "what little children don't learn, they will never learn" is particularly promising in infancy. When the first tooth breaks through, parents should start cleaning the tooth. With increasing age, the child acquires the ability to brush its teeth on its own, but beware: adult brushing is recommended until school age. Active support in the form of counselling and tooth brushing training is provided by the public health service and the city's dentists.
In all day care centres and also in some primary schools in the city of Chemnitz, children brush their teeth daily as a supplement to their home habits. However, according to the public health officer, the group of very young children continues to cause the health department great concern.
In the 2012/13 school year, 15 per cent of all three-year-olds examined had already experienced tooth decay, i.e. they had to be treated by a dentist. The most common cause of this is the constant use of teething bottles filled with sweet drinks or juices. Therefore a recommendation to parents: It is better to offer water or unsweetened tea as a drink. There is also a good guide to a child's development when it comes to drinking: if a child can stand upright and walk, it can drink from a cup. A so-called learning to drink cup is only recommended as a transition.
Contact and advice: The City of Chemnitz Health Department offers advice on all questions relating to teeth every Thursday afternoon from 1.30 pm to 5 pm. Please book in advance by e-mail at angelika.guetling(at)stadt-chemnitz.de or by telephone on 0371 488-5340 / -5349.