A view of the Industry
Dental Prevention
Management Activities Inaugural Meeting(see page 47).

This pamphlet bychildren's illustrator
Teiji Kawame urges
children to "Brush
your teeth in themorning and before
bedtime."

Chapter 4

Oral health promotion
expands from mothers
and children toworkplaces and companies
From the start of the 1920s, oral health activities began with a focus on children,then expanded to mothers, then to working women, and finally to adults in general,in various ways and places.
42A health fair in Kyoto (right)
and the attention-gettingmechanized anatomicalmodel (left).

Health fairs gain popularity
A novel idea surprises people
Oral health initiatives targeting housewives and women in general started
in earnest in the 1920s when the Schoolchildren's Mass Toothbrushing
Drills expanded nationwide. In those days, health expositions featuring
photos and specimens with information on disease and health were widely
popular, so Kobayashi Co. organized a unique exhibition after careful consideration of what would attract attention. In 1927, an Exhibition of
from ancient medical books and literature to legends, superstitions, and customs throughout history at the Maru Bldg. in Tokyo. The difficulty of gathwas rewarded with the show’s great success, as the number of visitors,including showings in Osaka, Nagoya, Kyoto, reached 100,000 people. In
1929, an Exhibition for Mothers and Children featuring oral hygiene information that mothers and children should know employed an electric-powered mechanized anatomical model that cost the then-enormous sum of several thousand yen and clearly explained functions of internal organs. It wasvery well received and later exhibited throughout Japan.

Promoting oral health among adultsering this expensive, culturally valuable material from around the country

Chapter 4

Teeth-related Practices presented documents and drawings related to teeth,43A poster for The First
Mother and Child Good
Teeth Contest (right),
and first-place winners
Masako Takamatsu andHideo (left).

Oral health promotion
activities arise after the war
The Mother and Child Good Teeth Contest
After the war, oral health initiatives boomed again because of GHQ's publichealth policies including new oral health initiatives targeting mothers andchildren. With 1949 revisions to the Child Welfare Act, the first infant dental
checks were carried out, and the idea that "In order to keep a child's teeth
healthy, the mother's understanding is essential" was gaining momentum.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Health and Welfare*¹ and the Japan Dental AsChapter 4sociation began to hold Mother and Child Good Teeth Contests beginning in
1952. Lion Dentifrice Co., Ltd. co-sponsored the contests as part of its oral
health activities.

Promoting oral health among adults

For the Mother and Child Good Teeth Contest, local dental associations
selected mothers and children with the best teeth, and after regional selectionmeetings, the final winners were decided. For the second contest in 1953,
which expanded to cover the entire country, the Minister of Health and Welfare*² joined the awards ceremony. Afterwards, a grand party was held at theTokyo Metropolitan Hibiya Public Hall. There, first place winners talked
about their childcare experiences, celebrities lectured, a game contest washeld, a film was screened, and the hall full of Tokyo high school girls andrepresentatives of various women's organizations filled with laughter.
*¹ Now the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. *² Now the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare.

44

The Lion Dental Beauty Salon inYuigahama (right) was elaborately designed. At Hamadera
Beach, a popular toothbrushingoral hygiene station was set up
under the Super Lion Tower (left).

A dental center appears on the beach
In 1953, television broadcasts and a period of rapid economic growth began.
To improve oral health initiatives, Lion Dentifrice Co., Ltd. promoted culture
division personnel in charge to augment the oral hygiene division. The former
Internal Affairs Department was added to the Dental Hygiene Department tocreate the new Culture and Education Department, which systematically carriedout a wide range of activities related to oral hygiene, from public relations andstrongly supported by the tailwind of a booming economy.
Of particular note is the Lion Dental Beauty Salon, a summer dental center
the facility’s dental checkups and teeth cleaning services for sunbathers were sowell received that in the following year, they became regular summer events
organized by the Japan Dental Association and sponsored by Lion Co., Ltd. andthe Kanagawa Dental Association. The free toothbrushing oral hygiene station
was particularly popular, and according to records from 1957, an average of
2,580 people used it each day, and the total number of users that year reached
75,000. Also, a summer-only health center was opened at Osaka's Hamadera

Promoting oral health among adults

that opened in Yuigahama, Kamakura in 1953. It is difficult to envision now, butChapter 4

educational activities to clinical guidance. The department’s new projects werebeach, one of the biggest resorts in Kansai. A huge tower constructed on thebeach in the shape of a Super Lion tube became a big topic of conversation.
45Touring instructors visiting ahousing estate. The Dandelion
Tr u c k s c o n s i s t e d o f t w ohygiene instruction trucks anda power supply truck, called
the Flower Truck, Sky Truck,
and Fruit Truck, respectively.

Strong and beautiful
like dandelions
Mother and child dental health initiatives
began with the Dandelion Movement
Further into the 1950s and 1960s, dental health activities related to mothers
and children as well as industrial workers began to sprout up one after the other,and still continue to be pillars of Lion's oral health activities. First, in 1959,
Lion's mother and child dental health initiatives started in earnest with the Dandelion Movement. The name was chosen to reflect Lion's strong desire for
Chapter 4

everyone to maintain healthy teeth that were beautiful and strong, like dandelions, and to spread the movement nationwide, like fluffy dandelion seeds blown
on the wind. In places such as municipal health centers and housing estates,

Promoting oral health among adults

members of the movement provided toothbrushing guidance for parents andchildren, dental checkups, and fluoride treatments. Then in 1974, the movement
introduced a large oral hygiene promotion vehicle called the Dandelion Truck.
Capable of providing instruction to up to 750 groups of mothers and children
per day, this truck enabled the movement to scale up activities instantly. At
housing estates in Tokyo, most households with children boarded the Dandelion
Truck, and it contributed greatly to the dental health of countless people.
In 1986, after 12 years of activity, the Dandelion Truck was replaced by theDream Truck featuring state-of-the-art equipment that made the group's activities even more effective.

46

The Cherry Movement aims
for people to be burstingwith good health, like ripecherries.

Workplace dental
consultations become popular
The Cherry Movement supports working women
In 1961, following the Dandelion Movement, the Cherry Movement began
as Japan's first initiative to promote oral health at workplaces. It targeted all
working people, but was particularly aimed at improving early awareness oforal hygiene among young women who were able to become mothers. Activities began at the Osaka branch, with movement members touring the workplaces of Kansai Electric Power Co., Ltd. to provide examinations, dental
even more popular than expected, with about 130 patients being examined
per day per location, for a total of 1,040 patients treated daily at eight differbeginning with Mitsui Bank. Because of overwhelmingly positive reaction
from companies and employees, the Industry Preventive Dentistry Management Group was formed, joining companies (among 1,055 participatingcompanies) that were particularly enthusiastic about oral hygiene. Efforts toimprove the organization and its programs further expanded the Cherry
Movement to workplaces in regions nationwide, leading to the Industry Preventive Dentistry Management initiative which continues to enhance thePromoting oral health among adults

ent locations. The activities expanded to Nagoya, with tours of companies

Chapter 4

consultations, scaling (removing tartar), etc. These activities proved to bedental health of working people.
47

The Lion Family Dental Clinic set up
by LDC in Shinjuku Keio Department
Store experimented with new ways
to relieve patients' anxiety, such asby having practitioners wrap theirarms around patients from behindwhile treating them.

New initiatives for a new era
Activities unified at the Lion Dental Center
Up until that time, the oral hygiene portion of Lion's oral health activities had been carried out in cooperation with the Lion Dental Center(LDC) founded in 1964. But in 1984, the oral hygiene division was integrated into the Lion Dental Center to streamline operations. From then on,
the Lion Dental Center has been in charge of all activities, strengthening
its commitment to public service.
Chapter 4
Promoting oral health among adults
48

In 1994, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of its founding, the Lion
Dental Center changed its name to The Lion Foundation For Dental
Health (abbreviated as LDH). Prominent scholars from Japan and abroadwere invited to the 30th Anniversary Seminar, which was held November
26-27 at Tokyo Dental College Chiwaki Memorial Hall. Over 400 dentists
who attended heard and made impassioned speeches, and engaged inquestion-and-answer sessions based on the theme of “The 8020 Campaign, A New Challenge Against Dental Cavities and Periodontal Disease." Also, a memorial reception was held at the Okura Hotel on the firstday of the event, bringing together more than 200 people together.

The First Lion New Year
Seminar. Thereafter, it washeld every January, and the24th annual event took
place in 2015.

From direct instruction to instructor training
Entering the 1990s, in addition to long-running general educational activities such as the Children's Mass Toothbrushing Training and the Dandelion Movement, the Lion Foundation for Dental Health embarked on a new
mission: Oral Health Instructor Training.
The first installment of this was the Lion New Year Seminar, an event
thereafter held each January beginning in 1992. The seminar aims to imknowledge and skills required by dental hygienists, along with the latest
information on oral health. The Japan Dental Hygienists' Association took
conducts the Special Research Seminar of the Japan Dental Hygienists' Association Third Lifetime Training System.
Also, in 1993, a veteran dental hygienist from the Lion Foundation for
Dental Health started the Nadeshiko Project which holds lectures for school
officials and others involved in dental health. This initiative contributes tooral health by providing lectures around Japan such as "The 8020 Campaign," "Chewing and Prevention of Lifestyle-related Diseases, " and "LifePromoting oral health among adults

over the event from the Japan Dental Association starting from 1997 andChapter 4

prove the skills of dental hygienists, providing detailed introductions toSkills Education."49

ue
Lion's uniqs③
al activitie
promotion

A ticket for a performance by The Beatles at the Budokan. The namesof the sponsors, Lion Dentifrice and Lion Fat & Oil, appear on the ticket.

The Advertising King
pedigree rules the TV age● From The Beatles to Lion Housewives Theater
Since the founding of Tomijiro Kobayashi & Co., Lion has always made effective
use of the best media of the times, and this ability was apparent at the dawn ofthe television age in the late 1950s.
Chapter 4
Promoting oral health among adults
50In particular, what drew the industry’s attention was joint advertising. Lion Dentifrice Co., Ltd. and Lion Fat & Oil Co., Ltd. jointly sponsored television programs
as All Lion. This unprecedented experiment was not acceptable to all at first, but
after intense negotiations, a one-hour drama series called "Outlaw" was broadcast nationally in 1962. Then, various popular, highly-rated shows were broadcast, including "The Untouchables", "The Fugitive", "The Wednesday Night
Game", and "Lion Housewife Theater". The 1966 Japan concert by the Beatles
was also sponsored exclusively by Lion Dentifrice and Lion Oil & Soap. Not only
did the concert at the Budokan have a huge impact — the TV broadcast of it thefollowing day achieved 56.5% viewership (according to research of Kanto region
TV viewing), a record that still stands in Japanese television history. Such boldinitiatives achieved great advertising results.

Looking back on Chapter 4

Practice the spirit of love
Oral health activities aimed at adults that began in the early Showaera (1926-1989) were full of imagination and originality. In addition
to the Oral Hygiene Expo, and Dental Beauty Salons at beaches, allsorts of different projects were carried out in succession, including thefull-color educational film, The Stars are Watching, the theatrical presentation Mother and Child Christmas Party, and the creation of theOral Hygiene Calendar for dental clinics. These manifestations ofthe spirit of love" — the company's founding motto.

Chapter 4

Lion's passion for improving people's health perfectly match "Practice

Promoting oral health among adults
51