GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – The Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (Ministry VSA) Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department within the ministry, would like to thank all the schools that participated in this year’s World Oral Health Day (WOHD) 2022 in March.
A CPS representatives said that students delivered some beautiful artwork and urged them to continue being “Proud of Your Mouth.”
The schools that participated for World Oral Health Art Competition were St. Joseph school, Dr. Martin Luther King school, Ruby Labega primary school, Mac campus 1 school, Montessori school, Asha Stevens primary school, Sis. Magda school, St. Dominic primary school, Seventh Day Adventist school, Hillside Christian school, and the Sis. Borgia primary school.
The winners of the World Oral Health Day art competition were, First place Liu Yuan of St. Joseph primary school, second place Cristina Xie of Seventh Day Adventist primary school and third place Evan Ematdjais of Sis. Magda primary school.
WOHD Organizing Committee members are Irma Knight Gumbs, Coordinator; Edward de Cuba, Mirna Sprott, Dr. Daphne Illis, Swinda Richardson, and Elcita Atkins.
Oral health is important for overall health, and prevention, early detection and treatment of oral diseases is important to stop any negative effects on the rest of the body.
Oral health means the health of the mouth. A healthy mouth allows you to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow and convey a range of emotions with confidence and without pain, discomfort and disease. No matter what your age – 5, 25, 65 or 85 years – oral health is vital to your general health and well-being.
Oral diseases are the most common noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and affect people throughout their lifetime, causing pain, discomfort, disfigurement and even death.
Behavioral risk factors for oral diseases are shared with other major NCDs, such as an unhealthy diet high in free sugars, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol.
To reduce oral diseases, it is up to you to take preventative measures.
Twice-daily tooth brushing with fluoride-containing toothpaste (1000 to 1500 ppm) should be encouraged. Long-term exposure to an optimal level of fluoride results in substantially lower incidence and prevalence of tooth decay across all ages.
Eat a well-balanced diet low in sugar; eat adequate amounts of fruit and vegetables which may have a protective role in oral cancer prevention; and reduce smoking and alcohol consumption.
