Knowledge is empowerment. As health professionals, we are obliged to give back to our communities with all the knowledge we obtained from our dental hygiene education. It is a privilege to make positive changes to someone’s life—even though sometimes it means only one small step at a time. Here are some pictures of the wonderful experiences serving our communities.
Head Start Fluoride Varnish Program 2015
At the fluoride varnish program examining and screening a cheerful pedo patient for signs of dental caries. He is eager to find out how many teeth he has!
Applying fluoride varnish on a pedo patient who is a little anxious but still very cooperative.
A pedo patient with gemination of deciduous mandibular incisors(observed during the dental screening).
Service-Learning Project 2015: Providing Oral Hygiene Education for Middle-School Aged Children at Madison Square Boys and Girls Club(Brooklyn, NY)
After a presentation on caries prevention and oral hygiene instructions, my teammates and I divided the children into 2 groups and taught them how to brush properly with typodonts.
We created a “scarf analogy” to demonstrate the correct flossing technique. My two colleagues acted as teeth and the scarf represented the floss. The children enjoyed this scenario so much and they also participated in “flossing” as well after our demonstration.
Greater New York Dental Meeting-Colgate Van: Bright Smiles Bright Futures 2014
Volunteering for the Colgate Van Event @ the 2014 Greater New York Dental Meeting with my colleagues.
At the brushing station teaching kids how to brush properly with the Fones brushing technique.
We DO believe a bright smile leads to a bright future. So here we are!
Good Health Day–August 2012: Even before I entered the dental hygiene profession, I had the opportunity to participate in the annual dental outreach sponsored by the non-profit community health center I worked for at the time.
In front of our booth, we were more than ready to reach out to the community. Can you find me in the picture?
Assited the dentist and the hygienist during free dental screening for the children in the community.
A kid at our booth playing fun and educational game to win a prize.
Ms. Wu, in one of your photographs, you indicated that gemination of the lower incisors has occurred. With gemination the tooth count, will be normal, or possibly the appearance of additional teeth;[in this deciduous dentition there should be ten mandibular teeth]. It appears the in photograph that the child has only two incisors; therefore the number of teeth on the mandibular would be eight not ten. When the teeth are fused, the count will decrease.
Dr. Jackson. Thank you for the information.
As per your service learning project; it states you were the creator of the “scarf analogy”. That was quite ingenious!
Thank you Dr. Jackson. This scarf analogy was inspired by Prof. Lam. She once mentioned in our public health class that she did something similar during an outreach. I thought it was quite interesting and modified it for our use in the group project.
Great job Ms. Wu!
Thank you Dr. Jackson.