More parents are reporting healthy toothbrushing habits since the Ad Council launched the Children's Oral Health Campaign.
On the one-year anniversary of their Kids' Healthy Mouths campaign, the Ad Council and the Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives said a new survey demonstrates substantial progress in the effort to improve children's oral health habits.
The survey was commissioned by the Ad Council and conducted by Cayenne Global Research. All respondents were parents of children ages newborn to 12 years. More than 1,000 English-speaking respondents were sampled from Cayenne Global Research's national opt-in survey panel and were surveyed online. More than 500 Spanish-speaking respondents were sampled through a national list of households and were contacted randomly to participate in a telephone survey.
Since the launch of the Kids' Healthy Mouths campaign, media outlets across the U.S. have donated more than $33 million in free ad time and space to the campaign. The public service announcements (PSAs) aim to reduce the prevalence of dental decay by motivating parents to promote good oral health habits with their kids by reminding them to brush two minutes, twice a day, to avoid oral pain in the future.
Here are some of the survey findings:
- More than 50% of parents surveyed have seen or heard the new Kids' Healthy Mouths PSAs.
- Significantly more parents in 2013 reported that their child brushes at least twice a day compared to before the campaign: 55% of English-speaking parents in 2013, up from 48% in 2012, and 77% of Spanish-speaking parents in 2013, up from 69% in 2012.
- Parents in 2013 were also more likely to report that their child brushes for at least two minutes each time: 64% of English-speaking parents in 2013, up from 60% in 2012, and 77% of Spanish-speaking parents in 2013, up from 69% in 2012.
Since the campaign launch, there have been more than 1.3 million visitors to the campaign website, 2min2x.org. The site offers a collection of free two-minute videos -- featuring characters from children's shows and networks, including Sesame Street and Cartoon Network -- that kids can watch while brushing.
In the upcoming months, the campaign will launch a new mobile game app for kids and their parents and a new national in-school oral health education program that aims to reach lower income and minority children and their families. English and Spanish language brochures will also be distributed to dental offices this fall.
