This month marks National Smile Month, which runs between Monday, 12 May and Thursday, 12 June.
To mark the month, the team at Medway Men in Sheds have been working on an initiative to create giant toothbrush holders for early years settings in Medway which take part in Medway’s Healthy Early Years Awards scheme.
Starting healthy habits with tooth brushing from a young age is really important for children, setting them up for life with a healthy and happy smile.
The idea behind this project is to create a fun and interactive way to open the conversation about good oral health and the importance of looking after your teeth with children, with the larger-than-life toothbrush shaped holders having spaces for children to pop a pencil in, to confirm they brushed their teeth that morning.
The Medway Men in Sheds scheme is commissioned by Medway Council and run by the Sunlight Development Trust.
Great idea
Cllr Teresa Murray, Deputy Leader of Medway Council and Portfolio Holder for Public Health, said: “This is an amazing example of different parts of the council, our partners and Medway residents coming together to work on a great idea. Making sure our children and young people know how important it is to look after your teeth is really important, and this is a great way to have that conversation with them and make it visual and fun.
“The Men in Sheds programme is a fantastic programme, and I think they’ve done a brilliant job on creating these toothbrush holders. The idea behind Men in Sheds is to help tackle social isolation by giving people a place to come together with likeminded people, socialise with each other and work on project like this, which benefit the wider community. Congratulations to everyone involved in this work – and if you’d like to brush up on your handyman skills, make sure to check out Medway Men in Sheds!”
The idea behind the initiative originated from one of Medway’s Healthy Early years Gold Award settings, Kiddiwinks in Gillingham.
Support toothbrushing
Helen Ellis-Adams, Manager at Kiddiwinks, said: “We wanted to develop a resource for our families that would provide an interactive opportunity to support toothbrushing at home. We came up with the idea of creating a large wooden toothbrush. One of our grandads was a keen handyman and was enthusiastic to craft this. We use appropriate sized pencils to represent the bristles of a toothbrush, and as the children arrive in the morning they are keen to place their pencil in the ‘toothbrush’, prompting positive conversations around good oral health.”
Find out more about Men in Sheds.
Find out more about the HEY Awards.
For tips, information and advice about oral health visit our oral health page.