The Oral hygiene day was introduced to commemorate the birth anniversary of the doyen of Indian Periodontics and founder of the Indian Society of Periodontology (ISP), Dr G B Shankwalkar, who was born on 1st August.

Every year on 1st of August, various programmes are conducted the Indian Society of Periodontology(ISP), Indian Dental Association(IDA) along with its state branches, Rotary club, private institutes and many dental colleges across India.

Objective of Oral Hygiene Day:

This day is celebrated with the objective to spread the message of Oral health and its importance and to curb the worrisome trend of neglect which has been one of the main causes for dental diseases.

Every year this day is celebrated by organizing various camps, creating oral health awareness in rural areas, distributing oral hygiene kits to the underpriviliged population.

Some institutes also carry out free periodontal treatments for patients on this day.

About Dr G B Shankwalkar,

He was the first post-graduate teacher in a country to start M.D.S. course in Periodontics at the University of Bombay.
Guest of honor at the 10th Arab Dental congress held at Baghdad March 1980.
Chairman of scientific sessions at Indian Dental Conference on 9 occasions.
Co-advisor, W.H.O. seminar on public health dentistry at Lucknow 1975
Chairman of 1st International Dental Conference held at Bombay – 1980.

These are only few of his achievements. He was a great visionary and a true legend in the field of dentistry.

As a Dentist, it’s OUR responsibility to educate your patients and provide all the facts.

On this oral hygiene day, here are a few patient education strategies that may be helpful for you to properly educate your patient, in the language that He understands!