Nigeria Plans to Break Toothbrushing World Record

As a fun method to motivate Nigerians to brush their teeth and improve their dental health, the Lagos State Government announced a plan to break the Guinness World Record for the most people brushing their teeth simultaneously. Their plan is to recruit roughly 300,000 students from schools across the city of Lagos to brush their teeth altogether.

“It is a school-based oral health intervention program that will culminate in a world record attempt for the number of people brushing their teeth simultaneously at multiple locations,” Dr. Yewande Adeshina, Special Adviser to the Governor of Public Health, announced during a world press conference just last week.

Breaking the record is part of the government’s overall plan to promote better dental care among Lagosians, especially children and adults, as well as the government’s new preventative dental care program that will be implemented in the city of Lagos’ primary health care centers.

The event will take place on December 5th, 2012. The Ministry of Education is currently rounding up students from 300 schools in Lagos, and all of these students will band together in Lagos to brush their teeth for one minute.

“The world record tooth brushing challenge is an opportunity for oral health to be brought to the forefront for Lagos State and Nigeria,” said Dr. Lola Agbaje, chair of the state chapter of the Nigerian Dental Association. Adeshina also further commented that they want to use this event as a way to get out vital health information to Lagos and Nigeria about the importance of good dental hygiene.

The current record is 177,003 people brushing their teeth together at 380 locations across India, which was organized by Colgate-Palmolive and the Indian Dental Association on October 9, 2007. If they are able to successfully assemble students from these 300 schools to participate, they will handily smash the world record.

What an incredibly fun way to promote dental health! Hopefully, this demonstration will catch the attention of more countries than just Nigeria, and perhaps other cities will have their own group-toothbrushing events.