Kids Vids LESSON PLAN

Health and/or Science

Dental Hygiene for Kids

With Sir Flossmore

Objective

1. To teach that proper dental hygiene will help prevent tooth decay and gum disease.

2. To promote healthy eating habits which lead to healthy teeth.

3. Learn what plaque and gum disease are and how they affect teeth.

4. Define the different kinds of teeth and what they do.

Materials

For this lesson you will need:

Dental Hygiene for Kids

With Sir Flossmore Video

Downloadable PDF printouts of Sir Flossmore Quiz, certificate and coloring pages and teeth diagram.

Crayons or colored markers, drawing paper. Heavy red or pink construction paper, scissors and glue.

Procedures

1. Play the Dental Hygiene for Kids With Sir Flossmore Video for your class.

2. After watching the video discuss with your class the important points they have learned about oral Hygiene:

What are Cavities?

Dental cavities, is a disease of the teeth resulting in damage to tooth structure. The disease can lead to pain, tooth loss and infections.

What is plaque?

Your teeth are covered with a sticky film of bacteria called plaque. Following a meal or snack, the bacterial release acids that attack tooth enamel. Repeated attacks can cause the enamel to break down, eventually resulting in cavities. Plaque that is not removed with thorough daily brushing and cleaning between teeth can eventually harden into calculus or tartar.

What is Tartar?

Tartar, in dentistry refers to calcified deposits on the teeth, formed by the presence of minerals and plaque. Tartar forms in the absence of proper oral hygiene.

What happens when tartar forms?

Brushing and cleaning between teeth become more difficult when tartar collects above the gum line. The gum tissue can become swollen or may bleed. This is called gingivitis, the early stage of periodontal (gum) disease.

What is gum disease?

Gum disease is an infection of the tissues that support your teeth. Your gum tissue is not attached to the teeth as high as it may seem. Gum diseases attack just below the gum line and cause the attachment of the tooth and its supporting tissues to break down. In very bad cases this will cause the loss of teeth.

To Preventing Decay:

· Brush your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.

· Clean between teeth daily with floss.

· Eat a balanced diet and limit between-meal snacks.

· Visit your dentist regularly for professional cleanings and oral exams.

· Ask your dentist about dental sealants, a protective plastic coating that can be applied to the chewing surfaces of the back teeth where decay often starts.

3. Define the different types of teeth that are in every mouth.

Your teeth look different from one another because they are designed to do different things.

Incisors are the teeth in the very front. They're the sharpest teeth, built to cut food and shaped to shovel the food inward.

Canines are the sharp teeth in the corners of your mouth. Because they're meant for grasping and tearing food, they have very long roots.

Premolars are located just behind your Canine teeth. Premolars have a more flat chewing surface because they're meant for crushing food.

Molars are the last teeth towards the back of your mouth. Molars are much bigger than the Premolars and have bigger, flatter chewing surfaces because their job is to chew and grind the food into smaller pieces.

4. Take a healthy eating poll.

Have your students make a list of what they eat on a regular basis, their favorite foods and what their mom’s always make them eat that they might not like so much.

Ask them what food items on their list they think may contribute to tooth decay. Compare their answers to their list of favorite foods.

Poll the class to find out how many of them would eat less sugars and sticky foods in order to have healthy teeth and gums.

Classroom activities

“Teeth Model” construction project. Children will construct a 3D model of teeth and gums out of construction paper and learn the names and functions of the different types of teeth

This requires a little preparation on your part as you will have to cut a red or pink construction paper into the parts that will make up the gums for your students to paste or tape their paper teeth into. But first download the Tooth Model PDF that has the teeth and instructions for your students. Print as many of these as you need.

Now cut pink or red letter size heavy paper into strips: Using your school’s cutting board or straight edge, cut the paper into 8 – ¾” strips along the long edge (these make up the “gums”). This will leave you with a piece that is 2” wide by 11” long. Cut this into 4 equal pieces 2” by 2-3/4” to form the “hinges” of the mouth (see the diagram below). Each page will yield 4 sets of teeth.

Pass out 2 “gums” and one “hinge” to each student along with one copy of the Tooth Model PDF.

The “hinge” should be creased on the long end and the “gums” attached to the top and bottom of the hinges as follows: Fold the ends of the gums at approximately 1-3/8” from each end. Paste or tape these folded ends onto the hinges as in the illustration below. The gums are now ready for the teeth.

At this point you can go over the drawings of the teeth you have passed out to the students and discuss the different types of teeth and their functions in the mouth.

Using scissors, the students cut out the two rows of teeth and paste or tape them into the gums to create their model mouths.

Now they know the different types of teeth in their mouths and they have a visual representation to see where they are in their mouths.

Homework:

Have each student take home a Sir Flossmore Report. They can record each time they brush and each time they floss for one full week. Explain that each day a parent needs to approve their progress (thus involving the parents).

Evaluation

1. Give your class the Sir Flossmore Quiz.

2. Present your students with a Knight of the Brite White Certificate.

Resourced from www.kidsvids.net and www.ada.org.