Dr. Maria Ryan, Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Colgate-Palmolive, discusses the intent and value of “Know Your OQ,” the firm’s complete instructional method released in 2022.
Concern: Those in dentistry understand the necessity of appropriate oral care, but why is it so essential to converse about oral health to the typical populace?
MR: We have all been taught the value of brushing our tooth, nevertheless what most people never know is that cavities continue to be the most widespread serious disease among the grownups and kids. It is approximated that oral ailment affects nearly 50 {7b6cc35713332e03d34197859d8d439e4802eb556451407ffda280a51e3c41ac} the world’s population—that’s a world-wide well being disaster. And the implications of tooth decay and gum illness aren’t just for your mouth—oral health is the gateway to your all round well being and well-staying. In reality, investigate shows oral illnesses are connected to bodily health problems these kinds of as heart ailment and diabetic issues and that they also have an impact on psychological wellbeing and psychological perfectly-remaining. Still there is a lack of awareness around the impacts of oral overall health. To deal with this international wellbeing crisis and compel men and women to prioritize their oral care, we have to have to educate persons that a healthier potential starts with a nutritious mouth.
Dilemma: What does it suggest to “Know Your OQ”?
MR: In early 2022, Colgate released a complete academic marketing campaign named KnowYourOQ. The idea guiding the movement is this: just as people today may perhaps know their IQ or EQ, which evaluate cognitive and emotional intelligence, we want every person to know their oral health and fitness quotient. If you Know Your OQ, you realize that oral overall health is connected to bodily wellbeing and psychological very well-remaining, you are knowledgeable of the signals and signs of oral ailments, you are knowledgeable about preventive tactics and the straightforward methods for improved oral cleanliness at house, and you know the relevance of trying to get the enable of an oral care service provider for avoidance, diagnosis, and administration of oral disorders.
Know Your OQ offers tons of information about the one-way links between oral wellbeing and general health and easy means to brush up on oral cleanliness patterns that both dental industry experts and individuals can benefit from. This website is a good conversation-starter for dental practitioners to share with their individuals. In addition, it can introduce several consumers to why it is so important for them to assess and manage their families’ oral wellness.
They’ll also find a totally free, interactive assessment to identify their oral overall health quotient (OQ rating) on a scale of 1 to 10. The academic assessment doesn’t just offer an OQ score it’s also a teaching instrument that features facts and explanations when getting the quiz. And it functions. A modern Colgate unveiled that exposure to Know Your OQ has a sizeable effects on strengthening people’s recognition of the significance of oral wellness and altering their attitudes towards oral treatment. What is extra, it even sparks actions transform, leading to a significant enhance in brushing two times a working day and utilizing fluoride that contains toothpastes. Just by having the quiz, persons are educating them selves about the value of oral health and getting measures to enhance their oral care patterns.
An more useful resource for dentists, hygienists and health care vendors is our LinkedIn sequence “Finding to Know Your OQ” in which believed leaders in dentistry, medicine, and nursing are interviewed about new conclusions and developments connecting oral overall health to total health and fitness and very well-being.
Dilemma: Why is it so important for dentists to really encourage their people to know and enhance their OQ rating?
MR: Very poor oral health and fitness impacts total physical and mental wellbeing. A latest world wide Colgate research discovered that childhood cavities direct to fear, stress and sadness in both equally young ones and their mom and dad, and cause young ones and grownups to skip up to a few times of university and perform per calendar year, respectively. Periodontal conditions also improve the chance for other problems, these kinds of as diabetic issues, coronary heart attacks, and strokes.
But there’s hope: these oral health conditions are mostly preventable. Continue to, even with this mind-boggling evidence, couple people today know that oral overall health is important to total wellbeing. The common populace does not understand that going to the dentist and getting proper treatment of their mouth at dwelling are vital to running caries and treating periodontal conditions to decrease infection and inflammation.
KnowYourOQ is an educational software dentists can use to support individuals close to the planet comprehend the relevance of the function that we do as dental industry experts to not only make improvements to esthetics, but also to increase on their all round wellness and properly-currently being via a improved understanding of the connections among oral health and all round wellbeing. It teaches individuals demonstrated, preventive strategies like brushing two times day by day with a toothpaste made up of an energetic ingredient to protect against cavities, flossing daily, working with mouthwash to get to challenging-to-reach locations, and more. The website is a digestible, compelling useful resource dentists can leverage to distribute the information to their individuals: If you Know Your OQ and just take care of your mouth, you are advertising and marketing your more healthy long term.
Concern: How have the past number of years impacted people’s oral wellbeing?
MR: The COVID-19 pandemic is creating oral health an even far more crucial concern simply because quite a few small children and adults haven’t been having normal dental checkups or holding up with proper oral treatment patterns at property, and this has significant impacts on their general nicely-being. Now a lot more than ever, men and women will need to fully grasp how to acquire care of their mouths to acquire demand of their wellbeing.
Query: What else is Colgate performing to disseminate this important concept?
MR: In addition to Know Your OQ, Colgate is working to advance oral well being around the world as a result of groundbreaking study research that progress our knowing of the backlinks concerning oral health and fitness and over-all wellbeing. We’re carrying out this by establishing many systems to strengthen on oral wellbeing, by doing the job with dentists by means of the ADA on Give Little ones a Smile Working day, and as a result of our Vivid Smiles Brilliant Futures courses throughout the world.
But it all starts with instruction, so we motivate wellbeing industry experts, like dental specialists, to share KnowYourOQ within just their communities, with sufferers, and with networks of family members and close friends to assistance folks explore their OQ scores so they can study about the relevance of oral health and enhance their oral overall health quotient.