Community Service Project Paper

DENH 412- Community Dental Health Practicum

Alice Surine
4/27/15

Community Program Site

The senior year public health project allowed my group to collaborate in teaching
children the importance of a healthy smile. As a group, we decided to educate the students at
St. Marys Preschool in Fredericksburg, VA. The 38 students at the preschool were ages 4-5
years old. The children were quizzed with dental related questions of oral hygiene and
nutrition. This was a great opportunity, and the children were very involved and excited about
what we wanted to accomplish, and that is to educate them on oral healthcare.
Need of the Target Population
Adolescence is a time where life- long habits can be formed. Educating children on the
importance of their home care, and teaching proper brushing and flossing, creates a routine of
healthy behavior that kids can continue into adulthood. 1 The need of the target population of
children ages 4-5 years was recognized to be reinforcing health behaviors that effect the oral
cavity. These behaviors include allowing a parent to brush twice a day for them, with a fluoride
toothpaste, and eating healthy foods that do not have the added sugar, as well as avoiding
acidic and sugary beverages. Caries is the number one preventable disease that effects
children in the United States.2 Prevention starts with education, and as educators, dental
hygienists are able to impact the community, including adolescent populations. By educating
this population, we are able to impact the lives of children. Childhood caries can cause
numerous health effects, compromising the childs ability to eat well, sleep well and function
well at home and at school.3 Early intervention of healthy habits can lead to a lifetime of health
and well- being.
Educational Approach and Objectives
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The educational approach for this project was centered on the age of the children. The
38 students at the preschool were both male and female, and ranged from ages 4-5 years old.
At the age of 4 to 5 years, language, cognitive, and social milestones include:
Language Milestones

Cognitive Milestones

1. Recalls part of a story

1. Can count to ten or

more objects
2. Correctly names at least
four colors
3. Better understands the
concept of time
4. Knows about things
used every day in the
home

2. Speaks sentences of
more than five words
3. Uses future tense
4. Tells longer stories

5. Says name and address

Social/Emotional
Milestones
1. Wants to please friends
2. Wants to be like friends
3. More likely to agree to
rules
4. Likes to sing, dance,
and act
5. Shows independence
6. Able to distinguish
fantasy from reality
7. Aware of sexuality
8. Sometimes demanding,
sometimes eagerly
cooperative

The American Academy of Pediatrics4

When taking these milestones into consideration, there is a lack of ability to take tests, and
read complete sentences. With that in mind, my group decided it was best to verbally quiz the
students on healthy oral hygiene habits and nutrition. We also wanted the kids to practice
using a toothbrush and to also visualize what brushing can do to clean the teeth. Using eggs
and tea bags, the eggs were stained and the children were able to remove the stain with a
toothbrush and toothpaste. Having the verbal quiz and the hands on activity we believed would
have the biggest impact on the children. The objectives were as follows:
o Know that tooth brushing should be done at least twice a day, morning and night
o Know that tooth brushing should be done for two minutes every time
o Know that fluoride is a vitamin for strong and healthy teeth
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o
o
o
o

Understand that flossing helps to clean in between the teeth

The motion for brushing is to brush in small circles, and have a parent brush after
Know what foods are bad for your teeth
Know what foods are good for your teeth

Program Implementation
Implementing our public health project, we decided on two visits for the children, one to
pretest and have the hands on activity, and another to post test. The test questions included:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Do you know how to brush your teeth?

How many times a day do you brush your teeth?
How long do you brush your teeth?
Do you know what floss is?
Do you know what fluoride is?
Should parents brush and floss for you?
Do you know what foods are good for your teeth?
Do you know what foods are bad for your teeth?

Overall, the children responded very well to the questions, but there was some ciaos while
asking, making recording the statistics of kids who knew the answers vs the kids that did not
know the answers difficult. We invited the students to raise their hands if they knew what the
answer was to the question asked, and counted how many had their hands up, but many of the
children yelled out the answers while having their hands up. They were a very excited and
enthusiastic group of children. After taking answers to the questions and providing feedback
and reinforcement, we had the children divide into groups for our activity.
The experiment we chose for the students was to show the effect of brushing for the full
two minutes, while also showing the motion for brushing, which is small circles. We used a
hard-boiled egg that had been boiled with a tea bag that stained it brown. The students were
broken up into 6 groups. Each group was given a toothbrush with toothpaste and the kids were
instructed to remove the stain. We informed the kids that if they did not brush their teeth, they
would turn brown and yucky like the egg. The stain did not come off easily. We reinforced the

importance of brushing for two minutes because brushing the egg just one time with the
toothbrush did not remove the stain.
After our experiment, we questioned the children about nutrition. The children were
asked what foods were good and bad for their teeth. Many of the children could name foods
that were good, including fruits like apples, oranges, and bananas. They also named
vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, and corn. When asked about what foods are bad for their
teeth, they mostly named cookies and candy. We wanted to reinforce that soda also has sugar
and acid. The children did not know what acid was, and we explained that acid is found in
really sugary things, like soda, and can cause holes in your teeth. We also asked the kids if
any of them had ever had a cavity. Some of the children spoke out and reported that their
parents had cavities. We explained that having a lot of acid and sugar can cause cavities.
Another question that was reviewed was if any of the kids had been to the dentist before. A
majority of the student raised their hands. Most of them also reported having a good
experience at the dentist. At the end of our time together, the kids were provided with a
coloring sheet for homework. The children were very informed about oral health care and I
believe that the pretest was successful in reinforcing information for the children for the post
test.
The post test was performed the same as the pretest, verbally. Joslyn and Batool asked
the students the same questions as before, and we saw an overall better response from the
children. There was also a nutritional game played where the children had to choose which
foods were bad and good from pictures provided. The kids fully understood the importance of
sugar and acid from the results of the game. Emphasizing the importance that the parents
need to be involved with their oral health routine at home, the children were provided with
patient bags and information for the parents on proper oral hygiene for kids.
Test Results
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Table 1.1
Questions

Pretest Correct Answers

Post Test Correct Answers

1. Motion for brushing

teeth?
2. How many times a day
do you brush?

Less than half

All students

More than half

More than half

3. How long do you brush

your teeth?
4. What is floss?
5. What is fluoride?
6. Should parents brush
and floss for you?

Less than half

More than half

Less than half

No correct answers
More than half

More than half

More than half
All students

7. What foods are good for

your teeth?

More than half

All students

8. What foods are bad for

your teeth?

More than half

All

Conclusion
Education is key to successful patient oral health. The public health project allowed for
collaborated organizing and implementing of objectives for an adolescent population.
Reinforcement of oral hygiene instruction and nutrition will allow for a lifetime of healthy habits.
Implementation of the project was arranged to accommodate the average milestones of 4-5
year old children. I believe that the verbal questioning and teaching, along with the visual
aspects like the experiments, coloring, and patient hygiene bag, allowed for the positive results
and better learning outcomes seen in our project.

References
1.
2.
3.
4.

http://www.adha.org/adha-emphasize-early-education-proper-oral-health-regimen
http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/hygiene/disease/dental_caries.html
http://www.cda.org/Portals/0/pdfs/untreated_disease.pdf
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/preschool/Pages/DevelopmentalMilestones-4-to-5-Year-Olds.aspx

Community Service Project Peer Evaluation

Alice Surine
4/27/15

The group for the public health project was myself, Batool Muhmad, Joslyn Vaccaro,
and Lindsay King. Overall, we worked very well together in planning and implementing the
lesson plan for the kids. We all decided as a group that we wanted to focus our project on the
adolescent population. Joslyn had set up the initial place where we would be teaching children,
but there was a number of problems that occurred between that location and our schedule. I
was contacted by Ms. Johnson, one of the teachers at St. Marys preschool, to teach her kids
on oral health. Again, there was difficulty with scheduling but eventually, my group and Ms.
Johnson could work out a time to meet. Due to scheduling, we decided to split our group and
day one, Lindsay and I performed the pretest and experiment, and day two Joslyn and Batool
did the post test, nutrition game, and patient bags. We all were involved equally in sharing
responsibilities for the objectives and obtaining all the materials. However, Lindsay was the
one to come up with the experiment, which was beneficial for the group. We collaborated
through email of our findings from the pretest. In general, this group worked very well together.
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