Smiling for the camera: Dental Hygiene students demonstrate good practices via Zoom
MCC Dental Hygiene students Natalie Gulczynski, left, and Shayna Tullis show top teeth
brushing techniques as a part of National Children’s Dental Health Month demonstrations.
For more than 25 years, Meridian Community College Dental Hygiene Technology Program students have visited local elementary schools demonstrating good oral hygiene practices to the youths in connection with National Children’s Dental Health Month.
Because of the pandemic, this year’s show-and-tell session, How to Have a Happy Smile, had to be different; they were delivered virtually via the video communications app Zoom.
Delia Harwell, Dental Hygiene instructor, said, “our students and the elementary students missed the ‘in-person’ delivery.” Harwell noted in the past, the MCC students would visit a classroom to demonstrate brushing and flossing. They’d also select a youth to put on a mask, gloves and gown to help the children not be afraid of the dentist.
This year, “we showed the elementary students a video with a song where Mr. Blippi brushes his teeth to show how and to encourage kids to brush their teeth,” Harwell said. Also, “we sent a coloring sheet related to toothbrushing to the elementary school children and winners were chosen from each group in the first grades. Our students made ‘goodie bags’ for the winners and delivered them to the schools,” she said.
Approximately 286 first-grade students participated in this year’s session.