DepEd partners with Colgate Palmolive

MANILA, Philippines - Multinational consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive has tied up with the Department of Education (DepEd) to provide dental services and dental hygiene kits for Grade 1 pupils in 50 public elementary schools nationwide.  

Colgate Palmolive Philippines, Inc (CPPI) will provide a fully-equipped dental van for the “Zero Cavity Mission Project” tour.                                                                            

 “We hope that through this project, we can address oral health problems among our school children which is one of the leading causes of absenteeism and eventual dropping out from the rolls,“ said Education Secretary Armin Luistro.

Tooth decay has been identified as the most prevalent health problem among public school children in the Nationwide Oral Health Survey (NOHS) initiated by the DepEd in previous years.                                                                                  

Some pilot studies carried out in the country showed that the implementation of school-based daily fluoride tooth brushing can reduce cases of dental caries by 40 percent and oral infections (fistulas and abscesses) by 60 percent.                        

 DepEd has tapped school dentists and volunteer dentists from partner agencies for the dental tour.                                      

“These activities are expected to reinforce the 7 o’clock tooth brushing habit currently being implemented in schools which we consider an effective tooth decay preventive measure,” Luistro said.                                                          

Among the services to be provided to students are restoration/filling, extraction, prophylaxis or cleaning and flouridization. There will also be oral and systemic health lectures for students and parents for the continuation of oral health care at home.                                                             

 DepEd’s partnership with CPPI was made through the Adopt-A-School program which invites the private sector to fill up resource gaps in public schools as part of their corporate citizenship program.