Henry Schein contributes to MoveIt4Smile initiative to raise awareness for oral health and mouth cancer
NewsPosted by: Dental Design 3rd November 2021
Poor oral health and infrequent preventative check-ups and treatment can impact the entire body negatively. Examples are the association between periodontal disease and the risk of vascular diseases such as heart attacks, stroke, or hypertension, and also diabetes, respiratory diseases, or problems during pregnancy. A less well known and worrying area of oral health is mouth cancer. Unlike most other cancers, mouth cancer cases have been on the rise for the last 20 years. Diagnoses have grown by more than 40% in the last decade alone. The incidence of this disease has increased by 97% in the last two decades. It is also one of the few cancers which is predicted to continue to rise in the coming years. Linked with lifestyle factors such as tobacco and alcohol consumption newer, research suggests that the increase is thought to be its links with the human papilloma virus. *
MoveIt4Smiles
The charity MoveIt4Smiles, that partners with the Oral Health Foundation, aims to get moving and raise money in the fight against mouth cancer. It also focuses on helping to increase awareness for good oral health and hygiene that links towards general health, and the important role of dental hygienists and therapists within the dental team. **
Team Schein Engagement
During a 500 miles MoveIt4Smiles charity walk from Kirriemuir in Scotland to Brighton, England, one of the charity walk founders and passionate crusader for oral health, Dental Hygienist Christina Chatfield, met Chris Hardy, Export and Wholesale Manager of Optident, a Henry Schein company, at one of the legs in Scotland. She told him about the charity walk she was doing and that for the next segment of the tour, she had no-one to walk with her. Chris Hardy loved the idea to support the charity aims and decided to walk the next 20 miles starting the very next day.
Most recently, and with a little more training, Chris joined the latest MoveIt4Smiles challenge that took place on 11 and 12 September 2021 at the Isle of Skye. The team of 18 participants completed a 16 kilometre walk on the first and climbed Bla Bheinn mountain on the second day.
In addition to Chris Hardy’s engagement, Henry Schein UK supported the MoveIt4Smiles walk by contributing to the provision of mountain guides, essential to ensure that all participants to complete this challenge safely.
Henry Schein Cares
Chris Hardy’s activity and the company’s support form part of Henry Schein Cares, the company’s corporate social responsibility programme.
“I am very proud of Team Schein supporting good causes around the globe with such enthusiasm,” said Patrick Allen, Henry Schein’s Managing Director UK, Ireland, Nordics & Southern Africa. “Through its aim to raise awareness for the importance of good oral health and to educate about oral cancer, MoveIt4Smiles fits perfectly to what we focus on with our Henry Schein Cares programme.”
Henry Schein Cares stands on five pillars: empowering Team Schein to reach their potential, advancing health equity and expanding access to care for underserved communities, accelerating environmental sustainability, strengthening, and diversifying our supply chain, and maintaining strong ethical governance. Health care activities supported by Henry Schein Cares focus on four main areas:
- wellness, treatment, prevention, and education;
- capacity building;
- emergency preparedness and disaster response;
- health system strengthening.
*) Source: MoveIt4Smiles
**) Source: Oral Health Foundation’s Mouth Cancer Action Month’s digital toolkit
No Comments
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
