May is National Dental Care Month! – Orsatti Dental

National Dental Care Month – San Antonio Dentist

Nowadays, there seems to be a national holiday every day! In May alone, there is National Lost Sock Memorial Day, National Hamburger Day, and National Astronaut Day. Now, the month of May can now be considered National Dental Care Month, concluding with National Smile Day at the end of the month. The story of how this came to be comes from a practice in Lake in the Hills, Illinois.

When Dr. Tim Stirneman and his director of business development, Jim Wojdyla, looked online for national holidays that celebrate smiles and healthy teeth, they didn’t find much. There’s National Brush Day on Nov. 1 and National Children’s Dental Health Month in February, which also includes National Tooth Fairy Day on Feb. 28.

“I wondered what it would take to get one of these holidays,” said Dr. Stirneman, a general and cosmetic dentist to the American Dental Association.

That curiosity is the reason that this May — whether through social media or visiting their dentist — people can celebrate National Dental Care Month. The month ends with National Smile Day on May 31, which shares holiday real estate with National Macaroon Day and National Speak in Complete Sentences Day.

Dr. Stirneman and Mr. Wojdyla registered the day and month with the National Day Calendar, a North Dakota-based organization that tracks nearly 1,500 traditional and nontraditional national days, weeks and months.

Wanting to learn more about the application process, Dr. Stirneman said they called a number for the National Day Calendar they found online. National Day Calendar receives about 20,000 applications each year but only 25 to 30 of them are approved by an internal committee, according to Mr. Anderson in a January 2019 interview with Slate. While it’s free to apply, there is a fee to make a holiday recognized by the group.

Dr. Stirneman and Mr. Wojdyla submitted their application in November 2017. The holidays were finalized in spring of 2018.According to the National Day Calendar, National Dental Care Month brings awareness to the importance of preventative dental care “just in time for a summer full of family reunions, weddings and vacations — all times we love to take pictures and smile.” People are encouraged to observe National Dental Care Month by reviewing their dental habits and checking in with their dentist.

For National Smile Day, observers are encouraged to share photos of their smile on social media using the hashtag #NationalSmileDay. “There is so much a smile can do. Just one smile can brighten someone’s day,” according to the National Day Calendar website.

It takes about three years, Dr. Stirneman said, for a new holiday to pick up steam with the public. In 2018, the first year of National Dental Care Month and National Smile Day, the holidays generated some traction with some local news networks asking their viewers what made them smile.

Here at Orsatti Dental in San Antonio, this is a perfect time to reevaluate your dental habits. Is it time for a new toothbrush or perhaps teeth whitening? Can you use a summer Friday to stop in for a cleaning? We will be celebrating all month long, and hope you will be too!