Outreach Blog

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In Biomed, we had the opportunity to teach a group in our community about what we have learned and introduce them to something new. Since I have been studying orthodontics since August, I decided to teach the second-grade class at the lower campus about cavities and how to properly brush their teeth.

To prepare, I created a PowerPoint presentation that included the following slides: an introduction about me, a definition of a dentist, steps at the dentist, a definition of a cavity, how to find cavities, steps for correctly brushing your teeth, and fun facts. After presenting the slides, I led an activity demonstrating the correct way to brush teeth using a dental model. The model made it much easier to show the kids the proper technique, and they were fascinated by the demonstration.

I also shared a few fascinating facts, such as:

• Teeth are like fingerprints—no two people have identical teeth.

• There are more bacteria inside your mouth than there are people on Earth.

• Almost 25% of Americans don’t have any natural teeth.

• Three million teeth are lost each year due to sports injuries.

These facts really stood out to me, and the kids were amazed, as they hadn’t heard any of them before.

For the hands-on activity, I gave each student a red chewable tablet. They were excited but also a little nervous, knowing the tablet would stain their mouths. They enjoyed the activity, even though it eventually got a little messy, dying their lips and tongues purple and red. The main goal of this activity was to highlight areas they had missed while brushing earlier that morning. The dye tended to show up most in the back of their mouths and in the centers of their teeth.

After chewing the tablets and examining where plaque remained, the students brushed their teeth again using the techniques I had taught. One challenge was that the dye was very strong and hard to remove, but the kids handled it well.

Overall, I really enjoyed doing my outreach with the second-grade class. Throughout this past year, I have discovered a true passion for dentistry and orthodontics. I am so happy I had the opportunity to share what I’ve learned with younger students and hopefully inspire them to find something they are passionate about too.