Pepsodent Unveils Super Dentists, Urges Students to Brush Twice Daily
As part of its commitment to build a cavity free Nigeria through its brush day and night campaign, which is a global best practice in maintaining healthy oral profile, Pepsodent has unveiled Super Dentists, four dental cartoon characters, to drive the culture of a healthy oral lifestyle among children.
The Super Dentists were unveiled at an event to mark the World Oral Health Day 2015, organised by Pepsodent in collaboration with the Federal Government and the Nigerian Dental Association (NDA) in Lagos recently.
The event with the theme ‘Smile for Life’ was witnessed by the Minister of Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan; the NDA President, Dr. Olabode Ijarogbe; representative of the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Modele Osunkiyesi; stakeholders from the health sector and over 1,500 school children, among others.
The Category Manager, Oral Care, Unilever Nigeria, Bunmi Adeniba, said Pepsodent hopes to reach 10 million children in Nigeria by 2020 to inculcate the habit of brushing twice daily and act as change agents to influence their parents to do the same.
She said not only does tooth decay cause children pain and discomfort, but Pepsodent believes that it also risks having an adverse effect on children’s future, causing them to miss school, potentially damaging their development at school and career prospects.
Among other school programmes planned to educate the children, the Super Dentists cartoon characters will be used to drive conversation among them to learn the importance of brushing day and night.
In his remarks, Alhassan said the mouth is the gateway and mirror of the body, adding that as such, Nigeria must take a paradigm shift from limiting dentistry to only the treatment of diseased teeth and care of the mouth.
He said the Federal Ministry of Health is pleased to collaborate with relevant stakeholders, including Unilever Nigeria to integrate oral health into the primary healthcare in the country.
“I am particularly pleased with today’s event which showcases the dividends of stakeholders’ participation and has put Nigeria on the world map through the smile pledge taken by about 1,500 kids to brush day and night aimed at a cavity free Nigeria.”
The Vice-President Marketing, Unilever Nigeria, Mr. Robert deVreede, said the company feels the responsibility of being the number one oral care manufacturer in Nigeria.
“We want to give something back to the Nigerian public. We have set a global ambition to reach 100 million children by 2020 and 10 million of them are coming from Nigeria. In effect, the number we are aiming to reach in Nigeria is the largest in Africa.
“We see the terrible picture if we don’t care for our mouth. So it is a step in the right direction that 1,500 children gathered today to pledge to brush day and night. We know that children have the future and can act as change agents to make their parents brush day and night. By the end of 2015, we would have reached one million children in Nigeria.”
deVreede said: “And it’s our ambition to get 10 million people brushing day and night by 2020 in Nigeria. As one of the market leaders in oral health care products, our school programmes empower children and their parents with the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve good oral health for life, through education and behavioural change initiatives.”
The President of NDA, Dr. Olabode Ijarogbe, said the theme for this year’s event is aimed at wishing everyone a lifelong and healthy smile at all ages, adding that the theme has a double meaning, ‘lifelong smile’ and ‘celebrating life.’
Ijarogbe said the WOHD is important because 90 per cent of the world’s population would suffer from oral diseases in their lifetime, many of which could be avoided with increased governmental, health association and society and funding for prevention, detection and treatment programmes.