World Cavity-Free Future Day (WCFFDay) was launched as an initiative in 2016 by the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future (ACFF). Its mission is to address the need for greater global awareness of dental caries, the disease which, when left unaddressed, can lead to dental cavities. The day offers the chance to send ‘a wakeup call’ to those with the ability to make social, economic and political changes to encourage action towards achieving a cavity-free future.
Each year there is a new campaign theme that brings together efforts from around the globe including outreach events, educational drives, free oral-care consultations, professional webinars, school-based education efforts and many more activities centred around that year’s theme.
2016 – Launching World Cavity-Free Future Day
The first year of the initiative and was centred on launching it around the world, spreading the word and getting all of our chapters, members and supporting organisations onboard. We were swept away by the level of enthusiasm for the campaign from all our supporters.
2017 – Helping Children At Home
Following the success of WCFFDay’s first year, we expanded on the campaign by creating a series of resources for home use. These were focused on resources that would help children to focus on their oral health such as the Prevention Pledge that reminded them of the three key points for looking after their teeth and the Brush With Bruno brushing chart so that they can easily monitor their activity.
2018 – The 3 Cavity-Free Commandments
For 2018, WCFFDay focused on our 3 Cavity-Free Commandments for keeping your teeth cavity-free and healthy and encouraged all those involved with WCFFDay to share their own tips. The 3 Cavity-Free Commandments are:
1. Brush your teeth twice a day, for two minutes with a fluoride toothpaste.
2. Reduce the amount of sugar you consume, and the frequency at which you consume it.
3. Make sure you book and attend regular check-ups with your dental team.
2019 – Babies Are Sweet Enough
The 2019 campaign focused on spreading awareness for parents and caregivers of the recommendations for oral care and sugar consumption for children, specifically for under 2 year olds. We aimed to share guidance to and through dental teams, midwives, parents and other caregivers to ensure those responsible for caring for young children have access to the correct information and avoided the wealth of misinformation and confusion that circulate amongst the public.
2020 – Smiles Across Generations
WCFFDay 2020 focused on tooth decay as a disease across the life course, with each age group and generation facing different experiences. The campaign included the Smiles Across Generations video competition in which we asked entrants to submit a 30-second video to help us raise awareness on how we can achieve a cavity-free future. The competition was a great excitement and received over 145 entries from 13 different countries.
2021 – Help Us To Help You Keep Cavity Free
The COVID-19 Pandemic has affected us all and for many of us this means our oral health has suffered. This may be due to lack of access to care, due to teams being re-focused, dental practices closed, or through a personal desire to limit contact with others. An ACFF study in Europe shows that 43% of dental officers have seen a rise in caries amongst patients (for more details on the study click here). So this year we aim to help re-engage the public with their oral health and support local care teams to run campaigns that break down any barriers that have developed in their communities.