Big smiles for dental milestone

WENDOUREE Children’s Centre had lots of visitors last Friday as twenty years of the Smiles 4 Miles program was marked.

Smiles 4 Miles works with early childhood centres to help improve the oral health of preschool children and their families.

It encourages healthy eating and drinking as well as good oral hygiene habits.

Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison was joined by CEO of Dental Health Services Victoria Susan McKee, the City of Ballarat’s mayor Cr Des Hudson and Ballarat Community Health program coordiator Amanda Collins at the celebration.

“What we really want to do in celebrating 20 years of Smiles 4 Miles is really say for our zero to fives, how important lifelong learning becomes for looking after your teeth,” said Ms Addison.

“These kids are going to be going home saying my teeth matter, my gums matter and I need to make sure that I look after them for life.”

The program reaches 3000 children across 39 participating childhood services around Ballarat.

To celebrate two decades, Dental Health Services Victoria is providing grants to providers to help them purchase educational materials.

“Poor oral health is actually highly preventable,” said Ms McKee.

“It really is about introducing young children to those really early habits of cleaning well, drinking well, making sure they’re brushing their teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.

“What we are trying to do is get those good habits in early so children actually know what’s good for their oral health and they can just continue to do that for their life.”