Hindustan Unilever has roped in Shah Rukh Khan to promote its flagship oral care brand Pepsodent that has been losing market share to Colgate.

The campaign has been launched recently and, according to HUL, what clinched the deal for Shahrukh is ‘his superstar and devoted dad’ image.

"Shahrukh Khan is the best choice for the campaign as this super successful actor also practices what he preaches. He is the perfect role model of a father," Srinandan Sundaram, HUL category head for oral care, said. The campaign addresses fathers to spend a couple of minutes with kids to brush their teeth.

According to market researcher AC Nielsen, the toothpaste market is estimated at Rs 3,000 crore. Colgate leads the category with a 52.5% share. HUL’s toothpaste brands Pepsodent and Close Up together accounted for 22% share in 2009-10.

Dabur ranks third in the category with a 13.6% share with its three toothpaste brands – Red, Meswak and Babool. While Colgate and Dabur’s market shares inched upwards between 2008-09 and 2009-10, HUL’s shares in toothpaste have slipped.

Though HUL is the country's single largest advertiser, its ad spends on oral care have been significantly lower than what it spends on soaps and detergents.

Other celebrities who have endorsed toothpaste brands include actor Kajol who is associated with Anchor, and Saif Ali Khan for Colgate.

WITH the Soccer World Cup just concluded, a survey conducted by the oral health charity, the British Dental Health Foundation, alongside power-brush manufacturer Oral-B, asked more than a thousand people in UK on which footballer has the best and worst smile.

David Beckham, topped the polls with 43 per cent of respodents giving him football's best smile. Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo came in second while Frenchman Thierry Henry followed closely in third.

Star man Wayne Rooney was voted to have the worst smile with 57 % votes. Chelsea's captain John Terry followed with 13 per cent, giving him the second worst smile.

One in five Italian dentists is unqualified, it was reported in the Italian press recently.

According to police figures, several people have been convicted of the offence. But the penalty is only a fine of up to EURO 516 (about Rs. 30,000). Most of these dentists just pay up the fine, change premises and start practicing again One "dentist" caught by officers in Rome was a plumber who had been filling and extracting teeth for 20 years.

The president of the Italian Dentists Association estimated that 15,000 of Italy's 71,000 dentists lacked qualifications. "Seventy percent of these are dental technicians who practice as dentists. Of late, false degrees have been on the rise which can be obtained from some countries like Romania," he said.

Others got their names put on degrees from South American universities. "Then they ask for the recognition of their qualifications in Spain, which has bilateral agreements with those countries, and automatically they can practice in Italy."

Meiyang Chang, 27, of Indian Idol fame made his feature film debut recently with Yash Raj Films's latest release Badmaash Company. But jumping onto the Bollywood bandwagon was never the idea for this dentist.

It all began with his performance as a singer at the Indian Idol 3 stage on Sony Entertainment Television. What followed was a host of opportunities. Chang was offered the anchor's role for Indian Idol 4 and later also for the Indian Premier League cricket telecasts. "I had never seriously thought of being in the industry, but when director Parmeet Sethi was writing the character of Zing for the movie, he called me for auditions," says the Dhanbad-based dentist turned actor.

Chang is acting alongside Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Vir Das in this film.