Courtney and I give oral health charlas (chats, talks) in the primary schools when we have some free time. It's a lot of fun and the kids really like it.
One of the Health Brigades that come through Nicaragua left Courtney a puppet designed to teach oral health. It has big teeth, it comes with an oversized toothbrush and has a built in water squirt mechanism that will shoot water at the kids from underneath the tongue....although we have yet to use this feature.
We start the charlas by asking for three volunteers. We give the volunteers disclosing tablets to chew, spit out and then model the pink stained plaque for all their classmates amusement. This is a great way to start off because the kids love it and it shows them exactly what we are talking about...plaque!
Then we give the volunteers toothbrushes for being good sports and get into the substance of the charla. We talk about brushing, good foods, bad foods, the importance of teeth...all the good stuff.
It's a fun way to spend an hour or two when we don't have any other work to be done and it's a nice break from just pulling teeth in the health center...an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure.
One of the Health Brigades that come through Nicaragua left Courtney a puppet designed to teach oral health. It has big teeth, it comes with an oversized toothbrush and has a built in water squirt mechanism that will shoot water at the kids from underneath the tongue....although we have yet to use this feature.
We start the charlas by asking for three volunteers. We give the volunteers disclosing tablets to chew, spit out and then model the pink stained plaque for all their classmates amusement. This is a great way to start off because the kids love it and it shows them exactly what we are talking about...plaque!
It's a fun way to spend an hour or two when we don't have any other work to be done and it's a nice break from just pulling teeth in the health center...an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure.
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1 comments:
I love seeing dentist in the States go to the far corners of the world to give free dental service to the less fortunate. I did some volunteer work myself in Southeast Asia, in communities in rural areas that didn't even have electricity. The smiles of the kids and the countless expressions of gratitude that I received were more than enough compensation for my time spent there.
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