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Background

Learning Goals

Standards

Materials

Tooth Brushing

Oral health is important for a child’s growth, development, self-esteem, and overall health. Tooth decay is the most prevalent disease in children and can lead to pain, infection, malnutrition, absence from school, and the premature loss of baby teeth, which can affect the development of adult teeth. The presence of cavities in baby teeth increases the likelihood that adult teeth will have cavities as well. It is, therefore, essential that good oral health habits are established early in life. Correct brushing techniques applied at an early age greatly increase a child’s chance for a healthy mouth throughout adolescence and into adulthood.

Understand what plaque is and the process

Understand how plaque causes cavities

Understand that brushing is an important daily task

Understand that proper brushing and flossing techniques are importantto maintain a healthy mouth

Understand the importance of brushingandflossing

Learnand practice proper brushing techniques

Recognize safe practices

Become familiar with preventive agents, such as fluoride and sealants

Unifying Idea: Acceptance of personal responsibility for lifelong health.

Expectation One: Students will demonstrate ways in which they can enhance and maintain their health and well-being.

Expectation Two: Students will understand and demonstrate behaviors that prevent disease and speed recovery from illness.

Unifying Idea: Informed use of health-related information, products, and services.

Expectation Eight: Students will identify information, products, and services that may be helpful or harmful to their health.

Plaque Process Equation cards

Large tooth model

Large toothbrush

New toothbrushes for students

Two-minute timer

Tooth Safety scenarios

What Are Sealants? flip book

Fluoride products- water, toothpaste, rinse,

and tablets

Floss

Introduction

Anticipatory Set

Direct Instruction

Good Morning, boys and girls! My name is ______. I will be visiting your classroom to talk with you about teeth, and how to keep your teeth and bodies healthy. I am from a program called TOOTH, which is part of the California Conservation Corps. For classrooms participating in the fluoride program: I have given your teacher some fluoride tablets/rinses that you will be taking in your classroom everyday/once a week (Show students a tablet and rinse). Fluoride helps protect your teeth from cavities, by making them stronger.

Prior Knowledge/Review

For classes that participated in last year’s program, ask students to recall what they learned last year.Remind students that although they may be familiar with parts of the lesson, they will probably also learn something new, so good listening skills are important. For non-participating classes, ask students why teeth are important, and what it would be like without teeth.

Tooth Safety

  1. Inform students that there are many things they can do everyday to look after their teeth. Elicit ideas. Desired responses include: brush twice a day, use fluoride, and eat

healthy foods. Ask students if any actions could hurt their teeth(Rhetorically.)

Ask for four student volunteers to role-play tooth safety scenarios. Follow the directions listed on the role-playing instruction sheet.

Preventive Agents- Fluoride and Sealants

  1. Read What Are Sealants?flip book. Introduce fluoride by displaying fluoride products,including bottled water, toothpaste, rinse, and tablets. Inform students that fluoride helps protect your teeth from cavities by making them stronger and add that both sealants and fluoride can prevent cavities (to prevent something is to stop it from happening).

Plaque

  1. Inform students that plaque occurs naturally in the mouth because it is a bacterium, which need warm and moist environments to live and breed in. Start Plaque Process Equation activity.

Responsibility

4.Ask students whose job is it to brush their teeth. Elicit Iideas. Inform students that while their mom or dad should check to make sure they are doing a great job brushing, everyone is responsible for looking after their own teeth because they will want to keep them forever. Ask students if it is their job to look after their mom, brother, or grandma’s teeth (Rhetorically.)

Frequency and Duration

  1. Instruct students that it takes at least two minutes to brush

away plaque. Show a two-minute timer and explain that a timer will help to know how long two minutes is. (Add that a favorite song could be played while brushing). Inform students that plaque needs to be brushed awayevery morning and every night.

Steps to Effective Brushing

  1. Inform students that there are some good strategies that can be used when brushing. Demonstrate on the large tooth mode the following steps:
  2. Follow a pattern. Selecta place in the mouth to start. This will ensure that every tooth is brushed.
  3. Hold the toothbrush so that it touches the gumline(the gumline is where the teeth touch the pink or brown gums).
  4. Move the toothbrush in small circles. Using small circles is the best way to brushaway the plaque and is gentle on the gums.

Brush the outside of the teeth using circles.

Brush the inside of the teeth using sweeps.

Brush the biting or top surface (molars) by gently scrubbing.

  1. Brush the tongue because germs like to hang out there and germs on the tongue cause bad breath.

Flossing

  1. Inform students that brushing, but not flossing everyday is the same as showering,but not washing one leg and one arm. Ask students why daily flossing is important. Desired responses include: to remove plaque (which can cause cavities and gum disease), to remove food particles (which can cause bad breath and cavities).
  2. Demonstrate the steps to effective flossing on large tooth model:
  3. A great way to know how much floss you need is to hold the end of the floss in your fingertips of one hand and measure from your fingertips to elbow.
  4. Wrap most of the floss around your middle finger of your right hand and a smaller portion of floss around the middle finger of your left hand.
  5. Pinch floss between thumbs and index fingers, leaving 1"-2" length of floss firm between your fingers.
  6. Follow a pattern. Select a place in the mouth to start. This will ensure that every tooth surface is flossed.
  7. Slide the floss between the teeth and in a c-shape around the tooth and slightly under the gumline.
  8. Wrap the dirty floss around your middle finger on your left hand, leaving a clean section between your thumb and index fingers.
  9. Inform students that used floss should be thrown in the trash, not the toilet, and that proper handwashing techniques should be practiced after flossing.
  10. Inform students that bleeding gums are sign of gum infection.Tell students that daily flossing will toughen the gums and the more they floss, the less their gums will bleed.

Guided Practice

Assessment

Closure

Self-Assessment

Extending the Lesson

Tooth Brushing

Students will have the opportunity to practice dry brushing. Direct instructions and expectations should be given before, during, and after the activity:

  1. Before

New toothbrushes should not be removed from the wrapper instructions are given.

Students should think about a pattern and should choose a place in their mouth to start.

Students should be aware that a two-minute timer will be used.

  1. During
  2. Remind students that it is okay to have saliva or spit while brushing and that it is okay to swallow saliva or spit since it is water made from their body.

Ask students to find a starting place in their mouth and to hold the toothbrush so that it touches the gumline. (Educator should ask if everybody has found his or her gumline).

Students can follow educator’s cues/reminders.

Educator should go through the Steps to Effective Brushing,while demonstrating on the large tooth model.

Inform students when two-minutes have passed.

  1. After

Ask students to place the toothbrushes in the wrapper and stress that toothbrushes needto be taken home and rinsed.

Ask students to feel their teeth with their tongue and pay attention to the feeling of clean teeth. Add that

this is how their teeth should feel after being brushed in the morning and at night for two minutes.

Play Fact/Myth game, which reinforces the concepts of the lesson. Follow directions accompanying Fact/Myth game.

Thank you for being such great learners today, boys and girls.You should be very proud of yourselves. You have a lot of important information to remember. I am confident that you will practice brushing every morning and every night and flossing once a day.

Complete self-assessment form.

Send toothbrush home with students andask students to share what they learned with their parents/guardians.