As the world marked World Oral Health Day, 2025, on March 20, parents were urged to instill a culture of good oral hygiene practices in their children from a young age.
Speaking at Technology Primary School in Murang'a town during a sensitisation exercise, Antony Esyalai from Unilever East Africa highlighted the importance of teaching children good oral hygiene practices from a young age to avoid common dental illnesses. "Good oral health starts at home with the parents teaching the children to brush their teeth twice a day," Esyalai said. "The whole community's involvement cannot be underestimated because if the education doesn't start at home, what we tell them at school cannot be effective," he explained.
Esyalai noted that children as young as nine years may lose some of their primary teeth because of a lack of adherence to proper oral hygiene. "It is very important for parents to teach their children how to take good care of their teeth, starting with brushing their teeth for two minutes twice a day as well as visiting a dentist at least twice a year," he stated.
He observed that the biggest hurdle in promoting oral hygiene among children is lack of information and lack of good examples where parents or guardians do not practice good oral hygiene themselves. "Oral health is often a gateway to one's general health, and bad bacteria in the mouth could potentially lead to other illnesses," Esyalai explained.
