Getting the word out about Children's Dental Health Month

Children's Dental Health Month in February will be a great time to promote the work you are doing through the PIOHQI project, demonstrating how a pregnant woman's oral health shapes her newborn child's risk of tooth decay. To make it easier for you to do this, CDHP has co-produced a social media kit with messages that you can use on Facebook and/or Twitter. The kit can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/1Tdtl6m (The kit includes a section on page 8 that is headlined "Moms Matter & Pregnancy," containing messages that connect with the purpose of PIOHQI.)

When should you use these messages? Anytime during the month of February, but CDHP is helping to coordinate two social media events that enable you to join with other health stakeholders to raise awareness of oral health's importance: 

Thursday, February 4 (2:00 to 2:30 pm Eastern) -- We're co-hosting a social media storm with the DentaQuest Foundation. During this half hour, participants are encouraged to post any messages they would like about children's oral health on Facebook and/or Twitter. Be sure to include the hashtag of #Month4Smiles somewhere in your message.

Wednesday, February 17 (2:00 to 3:00 pm Eastern) -- At our request, MomsRising has agreed to make children's oral health the focus of its weekly "Wellness Wednesday" Twitter chat. This event is built around a Q-and-A format. We expect one of the questions to focus on moms and/or pregnancy. This would be a good time to tweet an answer that mentions how important it is for pregnant women to get dental care during pregnancy. Be sure to include the hashtag of #WellnessWed somewhere in your answer.