An eye catching display is easy to set-up and can be a great way of grabbing people’s attention. They are also a fantastic way for people to learn more about their oral health!

Whether you work in a dental practice, school, college, pharmacy, community centre or an office, a dazzling display is the perfect way to get involved in National Smile Month and promote positive oral health messages.

Displays are a relatively low cost on your time and on your budget, making them the perfect National Smile Month activity. They can also be adapted based on how much space you have available to you.

Another positive point to make about displays are that they are really low maintenance and can stay up for the whole month. You can even capitalise on them by handing out more information, whether it’s with appointment cards for dental practices, or alongside letters to parents from your school.

Displays can merely be decorative or can be a terrific source of learning material. They can brighten a space and make it a more interesting and stimulating place. It can positively impact on motivation and have a direct effect on learning.

Please think about creating an oral health and hygiene display for National Smile Month.

Top tips for the perfect display

Information 

Is your display informative? Does it engage your audience? Displaying the correct information is key in producing a superb display. Is there something specific you want your display to focus on e.g. brushing or diet, or do you want it to be more general?

Education

Will your audience learn something from your display? Is it presented in a way that they can easily recall what they have learned when they get home? Make sure you are giving the correct advice in an easy-to-understand way.

Fun

Does your display dazzle? Are you being creative with how you display your messages? Lots of colours and eye-catching things to look at will ensure it draws people in and retains the attention of your audience. Try not to bombard your display with heavy text.

How to make a dazzling display

Pick a space

Displays need to be in an area where the most people will see it – a waiting room or reception, even in the window! Walls, ceilings, the floor, windowsills, shelves, cupboard tops, tables and display stands all work effectively.

Choose a topic

Is there something important to you, your patients, staff, pupils or whoever you’re building the display for? From teaching children about the importance of diet and how much sugar is in certain foods, to educating colleagues about the effects of smoking and alcohol, pick a subject to focus on display on and keep to it.

Give your display a title

Include explanations and a brief introduction.

Link areas of interest

Use arrows and other pointers to connect a series of information. You can create these yourself, cut from pieces of paper or card. Another good way to link displays together, especially when space is limited, is to display them on a piece of string like a washing line.

Think about the font

If you’re handwriting the display make sure it is clear and easy to read, both from close-up and from a distance. Computer fonts also need to be tidy.

Use strong and contrasting colours

Perhaps make yourself a colour palette or colour wheel to design a colour scheme and stick to it.

Draw attention – use opposing contrasts

For instance, for lightly-coloured materials make sure you use a dark background for your noticeboard. Why not try mounting your content on different coloured backing card.

Display information in different formats

A good blend of words and imagery work best. Combining leaflets with posters is a good example here.

Include some fun stuff

Effective displays are always highly creative. How about some National Smile Month Bunting or decorate the table with Smileys? You could even create a collage of Smiley selfie photos.

Make more information available

Make sure you point your audience to somewhere where they can receive more information. It could be the reception desk, or a website. For specific oral health related topics, point them to our oral health information.

Looking to create the perfect National Smile Month display? Here are some of our specially-made resources for you to build your own displays.