A pilot programme which aims to teach more than a thousand children and parents about the benefits of brushing their teeth is to be carried out in Vanuatu this summer.
Five ni-Vanuatu have been trained in New Zealand and will head home to teach people how to care for their teeth and to stay away from sugary food and drinks.
The group carried out a smaller version of the project in 2011 but will now take it to thirteen primary schools and nine churches on Efate and Tanna Islands.
One of the educators, Marcel Nalau, says people don't always have access to dentists and others have to wait a full day just to have a tooth pulled.
He says the smaller project showed there was a strong need for oral health education in Vanuatu.
"We went to one village even we went to the schools and we showed them the activities and posters and especially the kids they were very surprised. And when they see the model they are frightened."
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Oral health educator, Marcel Nalau.
