Oral health and Nutrition- Presentation at NYCCT Pantry
A group of my fellow students visited the food pantry at our university. Many students, both within and outside the dental hygiene program, use this service, which is available to the general student body. We thought it would be a fun and exciting opportunity to present oral health education to all pantry-goers in a non-clinical setting. Our presentation centered around raising awareness of how food choices affect oral health and promoting healthy eating. We discussed food choices that are better for dental and systemic health, as well as some quick and easy oral hygiene tips to help prevent tooth decay and dry mouth.
We created colorful posters to serve as visual aids and ended our presentation by having participants look through their cart checkout and identify whether they had made healthy choices, which was a fun and educational experience for everyone. Overall, the project was a positive experience that allowed us to teach and promote good nutritional choices and oral habits to our fellow students. We were able to use the knowledge we had acquired over the past 2+ years to create an effective lesson plan targeting the population.
Click HERE for lesson plan PDF
Give Kids A Smile in Collaboration with Colgate at NYCCT Dental Care Clinic
“Give Kids a Smile” was a fun and educational event that took place in our school’s dental care clinic for the second year running. We had the opportunity to collaborate with Colgate, and all attending children received free dental exams and cleanings. Both freshman and senior clinics were transformed into dental healthcare centers. Senior dental hygiene students had the opportunity to treat and provide oral hygiene services to pediatric patients. We taught the children how to maintain a happy and healthy smile. Additional preventative services tailored to the children’s needs, such as sealant varnish with parental consent and limited scaling, were also provided. The children also received vision and hearing tests and nutritional advice from other programs within the school. It was a pleasant and enjoyable experience educating children on oral health, developing our skills, and caring for pediatric patients.
Screening and Varnish application at Shore Parkway Head Start
We had the opportunity to be invited to Shore Parkway Head Start School to conduct limited focus oral hygiene education and instruction. The children were very excited to watch and learn via dental educational videos that we showed them about healthy eating habits, toothbrushing techniques, and cavity prevention. The excitement grew even more when we were able to have them demonstrate what they learned on our animal helper soft toys, which had a full dentition. After a very enthusiastic round of Q&A, we distributed goodie bags filled with dental supplies, i.e. toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste, that they had just learned about.
