In order to create greater awareness of good dental health habits and modern dental technologies, BAPS Charities organized its 3rd Annual Dental Awareness Day specifically aimed towards the children and youths on February 20, 2011. The event coincided with February being National Children’s Dental Health Awareness month.
Over 90 children and youth between the ages of 4 and 14 learned about the importance of brushing their teeth and flossing daily.
In previous years of this annual celebration, Dr. Vince Cullen and his team comprised of Brenda Fienberg and Rachael Fienberg gave a lecture on topics such as dental hygiene, periodontal disease, braces, and oral cancer. This year, the team’s focus was showing the youths how modern technology, such as robots and computer-generated braces alignment, can be used in a way to straighten their teeth.
At the conclusion of the event all the children received dental sports bottles which included items such as suctioned toothbrushes, mirrors to look deep into and the undersides of your mouth, floss, travel toothbrushes, and even sand timers so that the children could measure the time it should take them to properly brush their teeth.
Yogi Patel, age 13, stated that “This dental awareness day has motivated me to brush and floss my teeth regularly, at least twice a day so I can keep my mouth clean and free of germs. Learning about the harmful effects of bad dental hygiene will help me keep good hygiene habits in the future.”
Overall, this experience has provoked young children of all ages to take better care of their teeth because it has informed them of the dangers and risks of poor hygiene, and it has given them an opportunity to show off their beautiful smiles.
