Career Day at P.S 329
During February 2016, a few of my classmates and I went to P.S 329 in Brooklyn, NY, to teach oral health awareness to children with developmental disabilities. The children had conditions such as impairment in physical, learning, language or behavioral abilities. Most of the time was spent showing the students how to brush properly on a typodont and reviewing the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods you can eat. Accompanying us was Dr. Truncali, a DDS from the clinic at City Tech. She attends the school’s career day every year to teach oral health awareness to the children, teachers and para-professionals.
GNYDM New York Smiles Program
On Wednesday December 2nd, 2015 the entire senior dental hygiene class at City Tech attended the Greater New York Dental Meeting at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan, to teach proper oral health to young elementary school kids. Some students screened children for caries, some assisted dentists in a dental van where dental exams were being offered and some students, like me, were able to work side by side teaching kids how to brush their teeth. It was interesting to see so many different kids and to understand their views on oral health at such a young age. To keep it simple, we demonstrated brushing in a circular motion and explained that this should be done twice a day for two minutes.
Head Start Program
For Public Health, we attended the Head Start center in Brooklyn, NY to apply fluoride varnish to children in low income families. With the parents consent, several students were able to be screened for caries, given a referral with their current oral condition, and given a topical fluoride varnish treatment. I saw multiple cases of early childhood caries on children a young as age 4.
