Furtherance of its efforts to ensure good dental care for all Nigerians, Unilever Nigeria Plc at the 35th Annual Conference of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria “Coal City 2016” held in Enugu State has charged the populace to maintain good oral hygiene by cultivating the habit of brushing twice daily (morning and night).
In a paper presentation titled “The Global Burden of Poor Oral Health and the Science of Pepsodent Toothpaste” Consultant Paediatric Dentist and Vice President Nigerian Dental Association, Dr. (Mrs) M O Asiwaju noted that oral disease poses severe economic and social burden on many countries in the world and if not tackled, results in pain, abscess, tooth loss, loss of self-esteem, poor quality of life, and sometimes death.
She advocated global best practice of brushing regularly (twice a day) with a fluoride containing toothpaste, visiting the dentists and eating healthy as the remedy to poor oral health.
Speaking at the event, the Brand Manager Pepsodent, Unilever Nigeria Plc George Umoh said Unilever is committed to doing business in a sustainable way and that is why they have partnered with Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Federal Government and other stakeholders to strengthen pharmacy practice in the community and get better awareness for oral health.
He said that 90% percent of the world’s population suffers from oral diseases. Through the oral health school program Unilever has so far educated directly over 2million Nigerian children to imbibe the culture of brushing twice daily using fluoride toothpaste such as Pepsodent.
We believe children are change agents. They have the will power to influence their parents, siblings and people around them by telling them to take their oral health seriously.
Recall, earlier this year, Unilever partnered with the Nigerian Dental Association, Federal Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to celebrate the World oral Health Day and promote awareness of issues around oral health and the importance of oral hygiene in Nigeria. The long term goal is to improve the oral the oral health of ten million children in the country by 2020 through Pepsodent Brush Day & Night schools programme, adding that Unilever is targeting one million children in 2016.
“Pepsodent Triple Protection toothpaste is one big breakthrough formulation that guarantees protection against cavities, stains and bad breath and these are the most prevalent oral care needs in many homes” he concluded.