Pupils from Two Rivers Primary School has been learning about dental hygiene thanks to a visit by the team from Cara and Fay from Keynsham Dental Care.
The team spoke to two classes, one each from reception and Year 1, passing on advice on how to keep teeth clean and how to use a toothbrush properly, with Cara also leading a discussion on ‘Why do we need teeth’ and ‘What happens at the dentist’.
“The children were very enthusiastic, shouting out answers and sharing their experiences of going to visit the dentist,” said Cara. “We also played a game of ‘Guess how many teeth the animals have’. Did you know that slugs have 27,000 teeth!”
Fay then gave a demonstration of how to clean teeth, before asking the children to count their teeth using a mirror and then to draw a picture of themselves with their big smiles. “We got some interesting interpretations, I’m sure I saw some drawings where children had of hundreds of teeth, or blue or green teeth!” recalls Fay. “We then gave the children goodie bags to take home, which had a tooth brushing chart, a little mirror, a mini toothbrush, some instructions on how to clean their teeth and a balloon.”
“The visit came about as a result of our team noticing that the children coming into the practice were often nervous because they hadn’t been around dental care staff before, so thought it would be a good idea to get the children acquainted with us and with their own teeth,” said Cara.”Our hope now is that will encourage the children to take an active interest in their teeth, along with a greater enthusiasm to keep them clean.”