Oral Care Education for Children
Authors: Laura Amos, Davis Boatright, Megan Canady, Jessica Martin, & Danielle White
Faculty Supervisor: Lydia Watkins, DNP, MSN, RN, CPNP
Abstract:
One of the most important tasks that a nurse provides to his/her patients is education in order to promote overall wellness. Since oral care is a huge issue for young children, our group felt like teaching the kindergarten and first grade classes at Goodyear Elementary the importance of brushing their teeth would be beneficial. To make our presentation as interactive as possible to keep the students intrigued, our group assembled a three-dimensional mouth. We demonstrated how to properly brush and floss our teeth on our model, and invited multiple students to come up and show us how to do it as well. Along with brushing and flossing techniques, we also taught the students about foods that are good/bad for our teeth. Again, to hold the students’ attention, we asked for volunteers to come up and place the foods under the good/bad column on our poster. Our group accomplished our service-learning outcomes by engaging with the a local elementary school in our community and recognizing that many of the students may not regularly see a dentist so teaching proper brushing/flossing techniques was a vital contribution.
