Dental Health Week Event Handbook 3rd - 9th August 2015

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1 Dental Health Week Event Handbook 3rd - 9th August 2015 The Wrath of Trauma Do you know your dental first aid?

2 the best education occurs face to face, from professional to patient sins how your actions on and off the field are impacting your oral health Dental Health Week takes place every year during the first week of August and is the Australian Dental Association s major annual oral health promotion and education campaign. Dental Health Week aims to educate Australians about the importance of maintaining good oral health. Dental Health Week 2015, August 3rd-9th, aims to educate Australians about Sports and Oral Health The ADA is urging Australians who play sport or who work out to talk to their dentist- as their actions on the field or at the gym can be impacting their oral health. Dental Health Week 2015 Sports and Oral Health aims to raise awareness of three main issues; - Mouthguard Awareness - Sports Related Dental Trauma and Tooth First Aid - Sports Hydration, Dental Caries and Erosion Use this handbook as a guide to take part in Dental Health Week and increase community awareness about Sports and Oral Health. Make sure you visit the Dental Health Week website. Here you will find fact sheets, activity sheets and other resources which may be helpful for taking part in Dental Health Week 2015, gym supplements, sports drinks, missing mouthguard... every sin you commit is putting your oral health at risk! facebook.com/healthyteethaustralia twitter.com/aus_dental Remember the best education occurs face to face, from professional to patient. So get involved in Dental Health Week this year by running a small event from your practice, visiting a school or local sports team, or simply making a dedicated effort in patient education during Dental Health Week will make all the difference. Dr Peter Alldritt Chairman ADA Oral Health Committee 3 Dental Health Week brought to you by the Australian Dental Association ada.org.au All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2015

3 Campaign Hook - The Seven Sporting Sins Dental professionals have been concerned for some time about increasing rates of dental problems amongst active Australians of all ages due to behaviours and habits around playing sport and being active that place their oral health at risk. The ADA presents The Seven Sporting Sins. The Sins showcase what sporting behaviours can put our teeth at risk. Sin 1 : A Lust for Taste Are you increasing your risk of decay? Sin 2: Fuelling the Greed Are you being persuaded by marketing? Sin 3: The Wrath of Trauma Would you know how to deal with dental trauma? Sin 4: Supplementing Vanity What are you really taking? Sin 5: Sports Gluttony How many acid attacks are you having? Sin 6: Performance Envy Is dehydration getting the best of you? Sin 7: Slothful avoidance When was your last check up? This Dental Health Week, the ADA is asking active Australians which Sporting Sin they are committing. How your practice can get involved No matter how big or how small your practice, Dental Health Week is a great opportunity to advocate for oral health and have some fun along the way. Here are a few tips to get you started: 1. Involve everyone in your practice. Whether you re a dentist, practice manager, receptionist or a member of the dental team, it s always great to be involved in events. This is a chance for all staff to get involved and have a special week at work. 2. Get decorative and colourful. The more festive your practice the more excited patients and staff will become. Banners, balloons, posters, badges, stickers, streamers, or anything else you can think of to brighten up the practice and create energy. 3. Talk to patients about Dental Health Week. High quality dentistry is only half the battle. The relationship a patient has with your practice includes every experience they have with you, from the moment they call to book their appointment until they walk out the door, and everything in between! Showing your practice is socially responsible and really cares helps form that positive practice/patient relationship. Fuelling the Greed How persuasive marketing is directly impacting your oral health 4. Don t forget it s about education. It s easy to get carried away having fun, but remember to take some extra time during Dental Health Week to chat with patients and hand out patienteducation resources. By forming good habits early in life we can help forge a generation of Australians that both have and expect good oral health. 5

4 Your Dental Health Week Event There is no one way to run a Dental Health Week event. In fact, you re only limited by your creativity and the time you can devote. Here are just a few ideas to get you started. Run an event in your practice You already have the perfect location for a Dental Health Week event - your practice! The event management team (staff) are already on site and a guaranteed crowd (the patients) are on their way. All you need to do is decorate your practice, think of some activities to run during the week, and promote your event (more tips on how to do this later). Decorating your practice should be easy. A quick trip to the supermarket and you can have balloons, stickers, or streamers. If you re really keen you could even have practice staff dress up for the occasion! To help you make things a bit more colourful, the ADA has created a cut-out banner you can hang across your reception desk (available to download from Running competitions and giveaways is always a crowd favourite. Prizes might include toothbrushes and tooth paste, a sticker for every child s appointment during Dental Health Week, or a colouring competition for your youngest patients. You could even download a template for a colouring competition from the resources section of the Dental Health Week website and put submissions up on the wall for all patients to admire. If you want to get more extravagant give an oral health hamper or experiential prizes. Remember that this week is about Sports and Oral Health so anything you do should have their education and health in mind. Maybe a gift card to the local sports retailer or why not sponsor your local sports team. Conduct a presentation Events are fun but education is the name of the game. Choose a location for a presentation where you will have the opportunity to mould young minds and raise their dental IQ. This could be at a local sports club, school, stall at a fete or market, or even running an education session within your practice and inviting the local community. It s important you choose your most articulate, outgoing and vibrant team member to talk to your audience. Remember that the audience could be either young children, parents, or sporting teams and the content should be appropriate for either group. You might like to create a PowerPoint presentation, hand out fact sheets, or speak to coaches and trainers one on one. Run an event online With ready access to online tools, you might consider running all or a part of your event online. This is a cost effective way to educate patients and promote your practice within the community. There are lots of ways you could run an online event. You might decide to run a Question and Answer session on Twitter or Facebook, conduct a competition via your website or social media, or even just posting using your social channels about oral health information. There are plenty of resources you can link to on the Dental Health Week website. Lust for Taste How your favourite sports drinks are causing irreversible damage If you re completely new to the social media space there is plenty of literature online about how you might engage with your audience, but be wary, there are some risks associated with social media too. It s important you don t give specific advice online, post images without permission, or use testimonials in any of your online activity. To be safe, make sure you read the Advertising Guidelines and Social Media Guidelines available at 7

5 What s already available? Each Dental Health Week the ADA creates resources to help practices run events and to make sure as many Australians are exposed to the information as possible. Dental practices are key in providing this information to existing patients, and other groups such as local clubs, trainers, teachers, government, and other professional Associations like to get involved too. Available right now at Fact Sheets The focus of any oral health campaign should be education. The ADA creates fact sheets to help educators, including the dental team, communicate the key messages and take home information to read. These are great for parents, teachers, trainers and coaches. These fact sheets offer information on mouthguards, sport related trauma and first aid for teeth and sports hydration. Colouring-in activity sheet Whether you run a colouring-in competition or simply hand out sheets and crayons in the waiting room, these sheets will bring a few minutes of peace and quiet and help make the dental experience a positive one. You can even display completed sheets on the walls of the waiting room to add a bit of extra colour and flair. Dental Health Week Banner As a practice decoration, hang the Dental Health Week banner across your reception desk. All you ll need is (access to) a colour printer, scissors, sticky tape, and 5 minutes of your time. Promoting your event Once you ve organised your event you ll need to promote it - to family and friends, to patients, to your local community. The key is understanding your audience and communicating to them in a way that will peak their interest. Motivating people to participate and communicating to them what they ll get out of it is essential in running a successful event. Luckily in this day and age you won t need big advertising budgets. Advertising and promoting can be cheap or free if you know where to look. Social Media Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Vimeo, YouTube, Vines, Blogs the list goes on and on! Having an account is free but you need to take the time to build your audience. The best way to do this is by having great content. What better way to expand your audience than by promoting your Dental Health Week event and leveraging off a national campaign? Use as much imagery as possible. Video content is always popular (if you can make it) and interacting with people that try to communicate with you is essential. Supplementing Vanity Do you really know what your taking? 9

6 Social media provides a fantastic platform for promotion for your practice and its activities. However, there are certain risks associated with this channel and it s important you read and understand your obligations to the Dental Board of Australia. Visit to download the Advertising and Social Media guidelines. Some easy ways to promote your event through social media include: Post and tweet about your event Share important oral health information Share resources from Introduce your practice team Share Facebook posts from Use the hashtags: #DHW15 Write blogs Use Facebook Advertising or Promoted Tweets Facebook How can you use it? 1. Make sure to post information about your Dental Health Week activities on your Facebook page wall and update your page in the lead up and during Dental Health Week 3 rd -9 th August Stay up to date on what the ADA is doing for Dental Health Week by liking the HealthyTeethAustralia Facebook page: 3. Use the series of ADA Facebook posts that will be created and distributed in the lead up and during Dental Health Week. Twitter Why do we use Twitter? 1. Because this is a real-time, short-messaging service that allows you to spread the word about your activities. 2. Because your messages can be easily retweeted. 3. Because you can provide quick responses to keep your followers informed and excited. 4. To quote the ADA s Oral Health Committee spokesperson. 5. To share information about Dental Health Week. Sports Gluttony How your diet effects your oral health 11

7 Use the media Local papers and magazines love community events and stories. A quick phone call and a picture of your practice and staff might even become front page news! The easiest way to get media traction is to write a media release. You can look up how to do this online, but it is generally a one page summary of the newsworthy item with a catchy headline and some interesting quotes. If you don t want to write a media release you can always make a phone call and do a telephone interview. Make sure you contact your local newspapers, hospitals, schools, sporting clubs, local library, churches, health clubs, youth centres, or anywhere else you think might be interested in showcasing your event. Tell us about your Dental Health Week Event! The ADA would love to know what activities you and your team have undertaken for Dental Health Week. your photos, stories, links, articles, or feedback to adainc@ada.org.au With your permission, the best and brightest Dental Health Week events will be showcased in the ADA News Bulletin and Australian Dentist E-newsletter. Performance Envy Perform at your best, stay hydrated 13

8 Slothful Avoidance Prioritise your oral health For more information on oral health and looking after your teeth visit Copyright 2015 Australian Dental Association All Rights Reserved