Alfred Gera & Sons in collaboration with TePe and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Malta, were the Oral Hygiene Sponsors for the 2018 National Screening Event organized by the Special Olympics Malta (SOM) Committee, organised in Malta and Gozo between the 27th June and 6th July 2018.

Special Olympics International (SOI) is a non-profit organisation founded in 1968 and is the world’s largest sports organisation for children and adults with intellectual disabilities (ID)​, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 4.2 million athletes in 170 countries. This gives persons with ID opportunities to develop physical fitness while participating in the sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

Special Olympics runs a Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Program which offers health services, health education and information to all their athletes. In the process, Special Olympics has become the largest global public health organization dedicated to serving people with intellectual disabilities and thereby a tool in changing the way health systems interact with people with intellectual disabilities.

During the National Screening Event all the current Maltese SOM athletes were screened for a variety of health-related areas, including oral hygiene, and given individual attention and specific advice. The invitation was also extended to all persons with ID from all the special schools and centres. All participants were given oral hygiene instructions and dietary advice and given a pack containing a TePe toothbrush and a Sensodyne or Aquafresh toothpaste sample.

The Special Smiles station was run via a collaboration with the Faculty of Dental Surgery, University of Malta.