Today we’ve got a brilliant brief with great prizes and the potential opportunity to have your ideas up on billboards around the UK

We’d like you to tweet your entries to @OneMinuteBriefs and @KeepGBSmiling with the hashtags #KeepBritainSmiling and #SayNoToSugaryDrinks

It’s an all-new Twitter feed so remember to give them a follow too!!

Prizes:

The winner will receive:

State-of-the-art electric toothbrush rrp £229
Dental goodie bag including toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, stickers, keyrings etc.
£50 cash.

ABOUT #KEEPBRITAINSMILING

#KeepBritainSmiling started off life as #KeepStokeSmiling as a modern way to engage with orthodontic patients and encourage them to take note of our oral health messages. We have a Facebook and Instagram account and have worked with the local college to create a local campaign to improve the oral health of children and teenagers in Stoke. The campaign has been really successful and generated significant national interest.

We are hoping that the campaign will soon be a national one, as this issue affects young people everywhere. So, we’ve created a new Keep Britain Smiling brand that can be rolled out across the country and we want you, the Ombles, to help us spread the message.

It’s a David & Goliath battle – fizzy drinks vs healthy teeth

What we’re looking for

Looking for ideas to warn young people and/or parents about the dental risks of drinking fizzy energy and sugary drinks to children and teenagers.

- To understand the damage sugary drinks do to teeth

- Know that energy drinks rot teeth severely and quickly.

- If left untreated, dental decay is likely to cause an abscess and cellulitis (swelling of the face), the treatment of which often requires hospitalisation and intravenous antibiotics.

- Failing to look after teeth properly may result in long term problems which cannot easily be fixed

- More and more children/young adults are having to face the reality of ‘dentures’ to replace missing front teeth, as implants are not always possible (even if the funds are available!)

- Diet drinks also damage teeth by eroding the enamel (the protective layer) making the tooth more susceptible to decay and sensitivity

- Encourage young people to want that nice ‘selfie’ smile

- Children with dental problems often struggle academically, lack self-confidence and are reluctant to smile.

- Dental decay compromises children’s ability to eat well, sleep well and function well at home and at school.

- The unaesthetic nature of tooth decay also compromises children’s self-esteem and social development

- Studies have shown that having poor dental health can impact on a young person’s ability to get a job. A recent YouGov poll for the British Dental Association showed that having decayed, discoloured, broken or missing teeth makes it twice as hard to compete in the job market than being overweight or dressing inappropriately.

- Avoid references to Stoke. We want to spread the message far and wide.

- We want primary and secondary schools Nationwide to ban sugary/fizzydrinks and sugary snacks (London have pledged to do this by 2022 – but it’s not a national thing, and it’s not been particularly well advertised!

Key facts:

1 in 4 5-year olds suffer tooth decay

Dental caries is the most common disease in children/teenagers

Dental decay costs the NHS in excess of £36 million every year

The average school child misses 4 school days per year due to pain etc. from tooth decay

The average 5-year old consumes his/her own bodyweight in sugar and a bathtub full of fizzy drinks per year

Over 26,000 hospital admissions for children having teeth out under a general anaesthetic.

There are 9 cubes of sugar in a can of cola

There are 13+ cubes of sugar in an average energy drink

1/5th of 3-10 year olds regularly consume energy drinks

2/3rds of 10-16 year olds regularly consume energy drinks

Sales of energy drinks, in convenience outlets alone, totalled £667m in 2018, with Monster energy drink showing a 38% year-on-year growth

More information

Oral Health Foundation: www.dentalhealth.org.uk

Publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk – Time to tackle tooth decay in children