Hey Monroe! November 1st is National Brush Day!

By Colleen Giannone (Open Post)

Fall brings so many good things each year: leaves changing on the trees, pumpkin spice everything, apple pie, hayrides, corn mazes and of course Halloween! While children gear up for a night of trick-or-treating, parents often worry about how much sugar their children are consuming. Sure, everyone knows sugar is bad for our waistlines, but we tend to forget about the damage it does to our teeth.

Did you know more than 51 million school hours are lost each year due to dental related illness, resulting in parents losing 25 million work hours annually? Cavities and oral infections can cause severe pain and can increase a child’s risk for dental issues and poor health throughout their lives.

In a recent report, 3 out of 4 parents report that their children sometimes (or frequently) forget to brush their teeth. In an effort to help, the Ad Council and The Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives created new Public Service Ads (PSAs) for their Kids’ Healthy Mouths campaign. These new PSAs are humorous depictions of life lessons which make the point that while parenting can be tricky at times, getting kids to brush for two minutes, twice a day can be easier than most other things parents will try to teach their children.

The new English and Spanish-language PSAs direct parents and caregivers to the campaign website, 2min2x.org (which is available in English and Spanish, and includes a mobile version), where parents and children can watch entertaining videos—all 2 minutes in length—while brushing their teeth.

The Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives and the Ad Council are working together to get the message out about oral health. To promote good tooth-brushing habits, they have declared Nov. 1 (the day after Halloween) National Brush Day.

For some children, two minutes may seem like a long time. What’s a parent to do? The website 2min2x.org offers fun resources like two minute videos to keep kids brushing for exactly two minues. Families can take the 2min2x Text Challenge together or make brushing fun with the free Toothsavers App!

These resources, combined with a little help from mom and dad, will ensure that children will learn good dental care habits that will carry them through to adulthood.