Mouse mommy pledges to ‘Gumbatte Towards Healthy Gums and
Teeth’ with Systema and all Malaysians. Dental hygiene leads to healthy
lifestyle!
Dental health plays main role in our health status. You might be among
the 94 percent of Malaysian adults with gum disease based on data from the
National Oral Health Survey of Adults 2010
.
The main cause of gum disease is
plaque, a soft sticky film containing billions of bacteria. When plaque builds
up between teeth, along the gum line and inside gum pockets, the harmful
substance caused by bacteria build up will damage the gum tissue.
In a recent study conducted by Lion
Corporation on 450 Malaysian adults showed 80% of respondents had at least one
visible sign or symptom of gum disease, the most common being bleeding and
swollen gums, but only 1% realised that they have gum disease (Project Katsu
2017).
Oral health has a strong and proven relationship to
systemic health. Research studies show corelations between gum disease and
general health including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, rheumatoid
arthritis,and most recently Alzheimer’s disease.
Preventive oral health measures such as early
detection and treatment of gum disease can change the oral disease continuum, a
means to address the cumulative public health burden.
Systema, the gum health expert from Japan is
working with the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH), and the Malaysian Dental
Association (MDA) on a Corporate Social Responsibility campaign to help the
public Gumbatte Towards Healthy Gums and Teeth, continuing and
increasing its collaborative efforts of previous years.
The campaign aims to educate Malaysians and continue to uplift their
oral care practices, working towards better gum health for all by reaching more
than 2 million people with fact-based and research-supported oral health
information and free dental check-up to gradually reduce gum disease among
adults by identifying and preventing oral health problems like gum disease
before they become more serious.
The holistic CSR campaign includes the contribution of
10,000 trial size Systema toothpaste for the public, 9,000 full-sized Systema
toothpastes for oral health frontliners, an interactive website
www.gumhealthcheck.com that
provides education on the signs and symptoms of gum disease, and a free gum health check assessment
tool, free dental checks-up via
participating MDA member clinics, engaging educational and awareness raising
activities on social media and deeply discounted Systema products to bring
quality oral health products within everyone’s reach.
A social media campaign featuring influencers and users
encouraging everyone to Gumbatte Towards Healthy Gums and Teeth will support
the campaign from April 1st to April 30th, 2021.
Gum disease is highly prevalent, yet preventable. There is a serious lack of awareness of gum disease
and its potential to impact quality of life, and its link to other major
diseases as well. Collectively we need to help the nation improve its gum health to reduce
the cumulative public health burden. Research studies show corelations between
gum disease and heart disease and diabetes.
If early detection and treatment of gum disease can help to lower corelations
of these life-threatening diseases, we should explore it. Diabetes and heart
disease are also known co-morbidities for COVID-19.
Malaysians need to recognise the
signs and symptoms of gum disease so that they know when something is wrong and
can seek help.
Systema and MDA is looking forward to provide support in
contributing products, educational materials, online and in-clinic dental
check-ups, social media support and services to aid the public at this time
when public dental clinics are stretched. This campaign can help the Oral
Health Programme, MOH to educate more people on the critical need for better
gum care and oral health, equip them with products, and channel them to free
dental health check-ups for assessment.
Southern Lion Sdn Bhd, Senior General Manager, Ms Carmen Foo highlighted
Systema’s social purpose of creating higher awareness of oral health for
healthy gum and a lifetime of healthy teeth, moreso as the world grapples with
the pandemic.
“The pandemic has held us in ‘survival mode’ for almost a year, but now
it is time to refocus on important issues such as gum health again. Healthy
gums and teeth are vital for better quality of life, so let’s ‘Gumbatte’!
Systema can help by making more people aware
of the signs and symptoms of gum disease, that it can often be reversed during
early stages by simply brushing teeth and gums twice a day,”said Ms Foo.
“This CSR campaign has measurable goals that can be used
to assess its effectiveness across the public and front liners, providing data
on what works so that we can provide more targeted support in future to improve
oral health outcomes. Tens of thousands of people can do online gum health
assessments, and those who require can have free dental check-ups via MDA
member clinics. The Systema Gumbatte campaign in 2019 resulted in almost 50,000
people taking the online gum health check, and more than 10,000 visits to
participating MDA member clinics for free dental check-ups.,” Ms Foo explained.
The Malaysian Dental Association, Honorary General
Secretary Dr Chong Zhen Feng shared that since
the COVID-19 pandemic, with the general public putting off routine dental
check-ups, dental professionals have noticed the decrease in patients’
attendance. This will inadvertently delay any prompt management and may even
lead to worsening of oral diseases.
“The MDA has been partnered with Systema on oral
health campaigns, year after year. In Malaysia, gum disease is highly prevalent
due to the low awareness on the importance of good oral health care. Through
the Gumbatte Towards Healthy Gums and Teeth campaign, we wish to provide oral
health care education across the country with the aim of improving the gum
health and the general health of the nation. The number of people we will be
able to impact by this initiative is very encouraging.
“Take control of your oral health by visiting, the
website: www.gumhealthcheck.com to assess your gum status, and if needed,
please visit our participating Malaysian Dental Association member dental
clinics for your free dental check-up. ”
He said that the members of the Malaysian Dental
Association will be providing free dental check-up in support of the campaign,
and it is recommended that everyone visit their dentist at least twice a year.
The Gumbatte Towards Healthy Gums and Teeth campaign plays on the
Japanese motivational cry of ‘Ganbatte’ that means ‘you can do it’ as a
rallying call to get Malaysians to take charge of their oral health, even
during the pandemic. Vist www.gumhealthcheck.com to take your online
gum health check, today.
Fine N, Chadwick JW, Sun C, Parbhakar KK, Khoury N,
Barbour A, Goldberg M, Tenenbaum HC, Glogauer M. Periodontal Inflammation
Primes the Systemic Innate Immune Response. J Dent Res. 2020 Oct
20:22034520963710. doi: 10.1177/0022034520963710. Epub ahead of print. PMID:
33078669.
Petrilli Christopher
M, Jones Simon
A, Yang Jie, Rajagopalan Harish, O’Donnell Luke, ChernyakYelena et
al. Factors associated with hospital admission and critical illness among
5279 people with coronavirus disease 2019 in New York City: prospective cohort
study
BMJ 2020; 369 :m1966
“People
admitted to hospital were more likely to be men (61.2% v 36.9%) and were
considerably more likely to have comorbidities than people not admitted (any
comorbidity, 79.7% v 44.8%), particularly
cardiovascular disease (70.6% v 32.2%), diabetes
(34.7% v 9.7%), and chronic
kidney disease (21.2% v 2.6%; table 1).”
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