Dentists too sweet with sugar industry.

A press release from the Irish Dental Association (IDA), of which I am a member, set my teeth on edge the other day. The "sugar tax" muted by the Minister of Health in September was picked up by the IDA who suggested the money should go to fund dental care.(1) Compensation of sorts for the damage the sugar industry has inflicted upon the teeth of Irish children. The idea of making an industry pay for the harm it´s caused is an honest thought but the problem is, the IDA believe it or not, accepts donations, advertising and sponsorship from the same industry. So why is an organisation that represents the interests of dentists in the pocket of the confectionery industry? Is it a simple case of hypocrisy, an ethical oversight or is something really rotten in the IDA?


As many dentists busy themselves lecturing their patients on the benefits of a balanced diet while highlighting the damage sweets and fizzy drinks can cause to healthy teeth, their professional organisation has signed deals of accreditation and received tens of thousands of euros in "charitable donations" from sugar peddlers. Wrigleys has been paying and using the Irish Dental Association´s name on its chewing gum for several years.(2) Whenever there is a new Wrigleys product their packaging beams "Approved by the Irish Dental Association". (3, 4) When Extra Ice launched earlier this year the IDA pocketed a hefty cheque of €20000 for its support.(5)


Defenders of this bed-sharing with the sweet cartels plead, "sure aren´t they all sugar-free" but the reality is that only a few Wrigleys products have artificial sweeteners. The vast majority are laced with sugar - skittles, starburst, juicy fruit etc. On their website they describe themselves as "a recognized leader in confections with a wide range of product offerings including gum, mints, hard and chewy candies, lollipops, and chocolate."(6) Not much claim to be sugar-free there! So how could a dental organisation not know that in 2008 when it approved Wrigley´s Orbit Complete, yet another chewing gum, that the same company had just merged with Mars Incorporated. (7) Mars Incorporated for those who cannot guess is a super-sugar company with brands such as Mars, Snickers, Milky way, Twix, M&Ms to name but a few. (8) Last week another press release from the IDA called for a public health warning on all "sugary, energy-dense foods".(9) Ah, the hypocrisy of it all, if you pay us we approve your products if you don´t then we stick you with a health warning!


But it doesn´t stop there. The journal of the Irish Dental Association also reveals page-long ads for Wrigleys products.(10) The last two IDA annual conferences heralded Wrigleys as a "Gold Trade Sponsor" with prime positioning of its stall to trap any unsuspecting dentists unaware of its gummy double standards.(11) And best of all, at September´s Ploughing Championships in Kildare, Wrigleys sponsored the IDA´s stand where its staff and members dealt out "samples of chewing gum".(12) Imagine how long it would take the Irish Medical Association to refuse an endorsement for a new nicotine-free cigarette from the tobacco industry. Seconds, milliseconds?

IDA in conjunction with Wrigleys at National Ploughing Championships where members  handed out "samples  of chewing gum". Simon Coveney, Minister of Agriculture in attendance.

So how have Wrigleys a major player in the sugar industry sweet-talked a dental association and dentists into handing out its products in public? Is it clever marketing by Wrigleys, a complicit naivety in a professional organisation or simply blind greed? For the answer to that question we´ll have to masticate a little more. All the above has been brought to the attention of the Irish Dental Association and we will have to await the response from their "Board of Directors". For the time being, I and Irish dentists like myself, will continue to spend hours preaching to children about the consequences of eating sugary snacks. We´ll try to improve our patients´ diets but we´ll still have to fill or even extract teeth while the professional body that represents us continues to take money from an industry whose sole aim is to pump us full of as much sugar as possible.


Citations:

1.Irish Dental Association press release 09/11/2011 - http://www.dentist.ie/resources/news/showarticle.jsp?id=1161
2. IDA journal Volume 51 (1) : Spring, 2005 pg 15 http://www.dentist.ie/resources/jida/articles/2005/JIDA_Spring05.pdf
3. Wrigley launches new Extra tooth fairy promotion 01/08/2011. http://www.sweetretailing.co.uk/index.php/sweet_talk/view/wrigleys_extra_tooth_fairy_campaign
4. Wrigleys Orbit Complete advert run by ASDA.
http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/catalog/sectionpagecontainer.jsp?aisleid=1214921926000&skuId=30652376&departmentid=1214921923000
5. Wrigleys Extra Tooth Fairy Fund website Terms & Conditions no 12.
https://www.extratoothfairy.com/(S(ooxqgq2gbkex4kmk5afjhjvn))/wrigley-tooth-fairy-fund.htm
6. Wrigleys website - subsidiary of Mars Incorporated. http://www.wrigley.com/global/about-us.aspx
7. Mars Incoporated completes acquisition of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. Press release 6/10/2008 - http://www.wrigley.com/global/press/news-details.aspx?id=1164
8. Mars Incorporated website - brands. http://www.mars.com/global/brands/chocolate.aspx
9. IDA website press release 14/11/2011 Dentists reiterate call for public health warnings on sift drinks. http://www.dentist.ie/resources/news/showarticle.jsp?id=1162 
10. IDA Journal Volume 57 Number 5 October/November 2011 - http://www.dentist.ie/resources/jida/articles/2011/jida_oct_nov_11.pdf
11. IDA Journal Volume 57 Number 2 April/May 2011 - http://www.dentist.ie/resources/jida/articles/2011/jida_apr_may_11.pdf
12. IDA Journal Volume 57 Number 5 October/November 2011 p 234
http://www.dentist.ie/resources/jida/articles/2011/jida_oct_nov_11.pdf


Footnote.
The above letter was sent to Fintan Hourihan of the Irish Dental Association on 21/11/2011. He forwarded the contents to Professor Leo Stassen, Honorary Editor of Irish Dental Journal. Prof. Stassen felt its contents though controversial "should be published". The letter was then forwarded to Paul O Grady of Think Media who edited some of the language to the satisfaction of all parties. The letter was to be published in the following edition of the Journal of the Irish Dental Association.
One week later Paul O Grady contacted the author declaring that he had sought a legal opinion which "advised against publication" because "in its current format the letter is defamatory of Wrigleys". When asked what issues were in particular defamatory and how could the letter be changed to accommodate these concerns, he mysteriously added, "we are advised that you may face different/additional issues to us and that you should seek your own independent advice". The letter remains unpublished and undiscussed by the Irish Dental Association.

My Dad.

By Mohamed Mahtoub, Sirte, Libya, aged 11. (Translated from the Arabic)

When the war started my dad was working in Sirte. He came home early and left us the next day. I was sad but my mum told us he would be back very soon. I waited by the window until nighttime. Planes passed in the sky and dropped bombs that shook our house. We had to hide under the bed, my baby sister was crying. The next morning on the way to school I saw houses in ruins and dead people under cardboard. There was blood in pools on the road. When I told my Mum she didn´t let us leave the house again.

Inside we spent all day reading and playing. My Uncle came often and brought us food. Sometimes the lights didn´t work and we ate cold beans in the dark. One day I heard shooting from the street. My Mum closed the curtains because it was dangerous. I couldn´t wait by the window for my Dad so I cried all night. I wanted to be the first to see him coming home. My Mum told us about her brothers and sisters before they left Libya. She had started knitting. I liked the noise of the needles when she told her stories so she got us some hooks to knit together. 

Sometimes I was bored and didn´t know what to do. But one day the door opened and it was my Dad. We jumped up and hugged him tight. This time we cried because we were very happy. My Dad was thin and smelled funny. He went to bed as he was tired and slept for a long time. When he woke up my Dad was screaming I felt afraid again but Mum said that everything was going to be okay. The war in Libya was over.

We opened all the curtains in the house and when my Uncle´s family arrived we had a party. Afterwards, I went outside to play with my cousins but my Dad did not want to come. He stayed in his room. We were not allowed to go in without knocking the door because he was busy working on his papers. My mum got letters from her relatives abroad. They sent newspapers but she would not let us see them. There was always an argument when those letters arrived. My Dad shouted a lot so his brother came and tried to talk with him but he was sent away. We went back to school.

Everyone was excited that we had a new country so we had another party. One day when we came home from school my Mum was crying in the kitchen. There was mess everywhere, milk on the floor and broken dishes. I heard my Dad talking in his room but he was alone and wouldn´t let me in. That night we went to bed early without supper. I tried to stay awake because my parents were fighting.

Something woke me in the middle of night. All the lights in the house were on. My Mum was standing in the hall screaming without making any noise. I saw my Dad sitting on the floor he had blood on his face and he was gasping like when a fish is out of the water. Quickly I ran to my uncle´s house to tell him what had happened. He made me stay with my aunt and returned later with my sister and mum. My Dad was dead.

All I remember about the funeral is holding my mum. Relatives said I was now the head of our family but I did not know what that meant or what to do. My mum cried all the time. I could not cry. I told myself it was all a bad dream so I pinched and pinched but could not wake up.

Later, I started to forget my father´s face. The more I tried to remember him the harder it became. I was so scared I ran to my parent´s bedroom and searched his drawers. There were only newspapers there. I could not understand the strange writing but I found a photograph that reminded me of my Dad and cut it out of the paper.

My mum has stopped crying now and we have gone back to school. We visit my Dad´s grave every day, we bring flowers and say prayers. When I really miss him I take this photograph from under my pillow and it makes me feel better. It reminds me of the last time I saw my Dad alive.