National Inuit org spreads message about good tooth care

This image comes from the new activity sheets and handouts produced by Inuit Tapiriit Kantami aim to improve oral health among Inuit.

Tips and facts about baby, toddler, and adult tooth care: that’s what you’ll find in materials recently prepared by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

ITK said Dec. 9 that Inuit-specific handouts and activity sheets in English and Inuktitut are now available.

That ITK announcement follows a report released last month from the Canadian Institute for Health Information which said that more Nunavut preschoolers are undergoing dental surgery under general anesthetic than anywhere else in Canada because their baby teeth are rotten.

The new handouts are adapted from oral health promotion material produced by the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association.

“The Canadian Dental Hygienists Association applauds ITK for its efforts to improve the oral health of Inuit peoples. Improving Inuit oral health requires collaboration among many oral health stakeholders, and CDHA is pleased to be included in this group,” said Mandy Hayre, the association’s president, in a Dec. 9 news release.

About 13,000 copies of the three pamphlets were printed and distributed in three Inuit languages and English, ITK said.

“Inuit have a rate of oral disease two to three times higher than other Canadians, according to the results of the Inuit Oral Health Survey published in 2011. It is my hope that through this initiative we can continue to reverse that trend and see an increase in healthier smiles on all Inuit faces, young and old,” said Terry Audla, ITK president, in the Dec. 9 release.

ITK’s 2013 Inuit Oral Health Action Plan said good oral health should be part of the overall public health agenda, including in outreach to such community-based activities as seniors’ lunches, home and community care assessments, well-baby clinics, preschool health checks, and activities under the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program.

You can download the plan, handouts and activity sheets here.