AN initiative to keep the teeth of people of all ages healthy has been launched as part of Wellfest.

The Daily Smile links together the oral hygiene campaigns from Let’s Get Brushing and the Healthy Living Dentistry programme to encourage people to take good care of their teeth and is backed by dentists across the borough.

It is launching with a mass brush tomorrow, with people encouraged to post their #DailySmile tooth brushing selfies.

The Wellfest festival aims to inspire people in the borough to look after their health and wellbeing by trying something that will benefit their physical or mental health.

The simple message of The Daily Smile is to look after your teeth every day regardless of your age.

The advice for good oral hygiene will be reiterated in care homes across the borough, with support offered to residents.

Cllr David Molyneux, deputy leader of Wigan Council, said: “Oral health is so often easily overlooked but with The Daily Smile we want to bring it back into everyone’s attention.

“We already do great work with young people across the borough with our Let’s Get Brushing scheme, which is targeted at young children, encouraging them to brush their teeth at school.

“We are very lucky to have a great partnership with our dentists through the Healthy Living Dentistry programme too.

“With The Daily Smile we want to make good oral hygiene an issue everyone takes into account, which is why we are extending our support out to all communities and working with care homes to encourage good practices which can have many more health benefits than just looking after our teeth.”

The Daily Smile encourages everyone to take simple steps to look after their oral health.

This includes restricting sugar to meal time and only having sugar-free snacks and drinks between meals.

Parents are also urged to start brushing their children’s teeth as soon as they appear with a smear of adult fluoride toothpaste until they are old enough to spit out, which is usually at around eight years old.

Then they can add a small strip of toothpaste on the brush and follow the three-step rule of brush, spit, don’t rinse.

Parents are also encouraged to take their children to the dentist as soon as possible and to not wait until they have teeth, to get them used to the surroundings.

It is recommended to book a child in at the same time as a parent’s regular six monthly check up.