Smiles 4 Miles

Improving oral health in early childhood through a range of strategies.

The Preschool Oral Health Project targets Children from low socio-economic backgrounds and Children from new and emerging communities. The objectives of the project are:

• Increase in the number of early childhood health promoting preschools.
• Increase in the number of early childhood services with active oral health and nutrition policy.
• Improvement in water/ fruit & vegetable consumption by preschool students .
• Inclusion of oral health in curriculum.
• Improvement in linkages and information sharing between MCHS and early childhood services.
• Increase in healthy eating and oral health behaviours at home.
• Improved awareness of the link between oral health and nutrition by families.

Smiles 4 Miles resources (drink bottles, lunch bags, toothbrushes) will be distributed to children in participating services to promote the campaign’s key messages - ‘Eat Well, Drink Well, Brush Well’. A resource kit is also available for staff to borrow. In addition, we will conduct training and skill development with peer leaders to enable them to run information sessions in the community, building on our previous involvement with the breakfast program with KODE pre-school, development of resources for new mothers and pre-schools in Moreland, and professional development for pre-school staff.