Field work!
There were quite a few field work I did within 2016 and 2017 in the Dental Hygiene program at NYCCT.

Greater New York Smile Event!
In late 2016, my classmates and I attend the Greater New York Smile event, sponsored by Colgate. At the event our job was to teach children to brush there teeth. There were station set up with sinks , where the children were escorted to be evaluated on their brushing. When the children entered the station, my partner and I gave the child a toothbrush with toothpaste. The child then demonstrated his or her brushing technique, we would assess the child technique and modified it so the child understood the right way to brush his/her teeth. The event was fun and it presented the opportunity to work with children from many different background and skill set.

Senior Center at bay Ridge.
For public health my fellow student and I were assigned to do community service oral health related.
We went to a senior center in Brooklyn, where we prepared a PowerPoint , some brochures and even some samples. As a group we discussed many topic on oral findings in aging. We talked about xerostomia, denture care, nutrition, and many more. We wanted to bring awareness of how the oral cavity changes due to aging. We wanted the senior’s to know what is normal and what is not, so they can seek help if they noticed any changes. I enjoyed going to the senior center, because by just speaking to the senior’s I felt as though they were eager to learn and I did something to help someone. At the end of the visit we gave out some samples and gave the senior’s brochures.

The varnish program
The varnish program for preschool children at Head Start was a fun and a learning experience. The first thing we did was show the children a cartoon video on how to take care of your teeth and how candy causes cavities. We then went to the classroom and showed the children how to brush using a stuffed animal. The children enjoyed it very much and so did I. On the next visit for head start we screen many children by looking into their mouth with a flashlight. We were looking for cavities fill teeth or anything suspicious. The findings were recorded on a piece of paper and given to the child’s teacher. Varnish was applied on every child that was screen that day. In total we visited the Head Start program three times.