Gum Health Day 2023 - an overview

“Healthy gums look good on you! Protect them!” is the slogan of the Gum Health Day 2023 campaign, which states that healthy gums are part of our wellbeing and beauty. It also conveys a powerful message encouraging everybody to prioritise prevention and maintenance of their gum health, which decisively contributes to enhance people’s overall facial aesthetics and therefore their self-confidence in everyday social activities.

Gum Health Day was created in 2013 with the aim to increase public awareness of the seriousness of gum disease, the health problems associated with it, and the importance of keeping our gums strong and healthy. It seeks to remind people that gum health is a key factor for overall health throughout life, and that gum disease is a relevant public-health concern because it is linked to serious conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease.

Every year, Gum Health Day adopts a different slogan and a different set of campaign materials in order to convey a slightly new message to the population. “Treat your gums” was the slogan for Gum Health Day 2022. In previous years, the motto was “Gum diseases are preventable” for 2021, and “Say no to bleeding gums” in 2020.

Based on the slogan “Healthy gums look good on you! Protect them!”, the EFP and its member societies around the world are preparing communication materials and educational initiatives. These include videos, the campaign builder - which creates personalised posts for social media in different languages and layouts -, an Instagram filter, and other engaging initiatives on social media.

Spyros Vassilopoulos, Gum Health Day 2023 co-ordinator
“A nice-looking smile is not a random factor but most often a consequence of maintaining good gum and oral health, and Gum Health Day 2023 will help to disseminate that message among dentists, health professionals, and the general public,” says Spyros Vassilopoulos, Gum Health Day 2023 co-ordinator.

“At the end of the day, the purpose of Gum Health Day is to remind people why they should take care of their gums - and how nice our smiles look emphasises this point,” Prof Vassilopoulos adds.

As part of the Gum Health Day 2023 campaign, all oral-health professionals and dental and medical organisations are invited to sign the EFP Manifesto: Perio and General Health, a call to action for the prevention, early detection, and treatment of gum disease. Signatures are welcome here.

Also in the framework of Gum Health Day 2023, all members of the EFP member societies are invited to take part in the EFP Photo Contest 2023 - find more details here.