Each year in February, students in the Ross Medical Education Center Dental Assistant program find ways to celebrate Children’s Dental Health Month. Their goal is to improve dental hygiene and health for children and their families. This year, Dental Assistant students from the Dayton campus visited Timberlane Learning Center which is part of the local Northridge School system. Timberlane is within 15 minutes of the Ross campus, and the students loved visiting a school so close to home.
While at the school, the Dental Assistant students gave oral hygiene instruction to 248 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. Several of the Ross students even decided to dressed up as Tooth Fairies which the children really enjoyed. The Dental Assistant students were broken into teams of two students and one Tooth Fairy per classroom. They spent about 30 minutes in each classroom teaching brushing and flossing techniques in a way that children of that age can easily understand. The children were able to participate by brushing and flossing techniques that children of that age can understand. The children were able to participate by brushing the models the Ross students provided. One of their activities included flossing play doh from between pretend teeth that were large Legos.
Additionally, the children were given nutrition education. Each team of Ross students had large poster boards with a “happy tooth” and a “sad tooth.” The children used these to play a matching game. For their game, they pinned the healthy foods under the happy tooth and the unhealthy foods under the sad tooth! In addition to the fun activities and instruction, Ross provided toothbrushes, flossers, stickers, and toothpaste for each child. The Dental Assistant students packaged the items in gift bags. At the end of the demonstration time with the children, the Tooth Fairies passed out the gifts to each child. The children loved the Ross students and several classes even made thank you cards and sent them to the Dayton campus for the Dental Assistant students!