Last month, we visited the four prep classes St. Columba’s Wilston!
Educating our local kids
One of our goals at Method Dental is to help educate all of the local children about oral health and how to maintain healthy teeth for life. We’ve visited Little Ducks Wilston, Tiny Town Enoggera, Emily Foord Kindergarten at Stafford and just a couple of weeks ago, we went back to St. Columba’s Wilston! There was two presentations to the four prep classes – two classes at a time.
It’s always a special day for Dr. Grant McGrath because he actually attended St. Columba’s as a child and it’s such a great local school!
And, we even got to introduce our new Cavity Free Club mascot – Carrots, the Cavity Free Bunny!
Method Dental provide dental services to children in the surrounding areas of Grange, Wilston, Windsor, Newmarket, Stafford and more. But we really want to prevent these kids from ever needing any avoidable treatment whatsoever!
Our yearly school visits
2018 was the first year of operations for Method Dental and it was our goal to begin relationships with local childcare centres, kindergartens and schools so that we could visit every year.
Our past presentation for the kids was pretty great and kids engaged with it a lot, but it lacked a bit of imagination. There was no story and no narrative to hook the kids in. There were some great visuals, but ultimately, we felt we could do better.
That’s how we came up with Carrots, the Cavity Free bunny!
Carrots the Cavity Free Bunny
So instead of just going through healthy foods, drinks and trips to the dentist, we went through a “Day in the life of Carrots!”
He would get up in the morning, go to the bathroom and clean his teeth, using his toothbrush, toothpaste and tooth floss. All the good things for teeth!
Then it was time for breakfast and that’s where things get hard! There’s so many choices for breakfast foods, it can be hard to know what’s good for you. So we asked the kids to put their thumbs up, or their thumbs down for foods and drinks that are tooth-friendly or not-so-tooth-friendly.
Then Carrots went off to school – just like the little preppies at St. Columba’s! But then the morning break bell rang and Carrots had to choose once again – what to eat and drink! The prep kids were pretty great at giving the thumbs up and down for the different foods and drinks! They even knew that it is sugar in these foods and drinks that we are trying to avoid.
Pro-tip for parents: Kids can eat sugar (just not all the time)
Come on…. We all love a good sugar hit! But it’s how often we eat or drink sugary things that affect our risk for developing tooth decay.
You see, eating a tim-tam here and there won’t give you tooth decay. But sipping on fruit juice or cordial throughout the day just might!
Every time you or your kids eat or drink something with sugar in it, the germs inside your mouth turn that sugar into acid which then works to dissolve your tooth! Your saliva helps to fight the acid by neutralising it and washing it and any excess food away from your teeth. But if enough acid is produced over time by repeated exposure to sugar, the balance tips towards tooth decay.
The germs aren’t eating your teeth – they’re eating what you’re eating! So if you or your kids are snacking on sugary things even just a little, it might be enough to swing your risk towards tooth decay!
Carrots and the dentist
After Carrots has been to school, he went to one more special place… The dentist! Carrots loves going to the dentist to help make sure that his mouth stays healthy! Find out more about our approach to children’s dentistry here.
After all of the fun seeing Carrots go about his day, we finished off with every child getting a turn at brushing the giant teeth. It’s always a huge crowd pleaser at the end of the presentation and literally every child waits patiently for their turn!
Jasmine also gets in on the act, giving out a goodie bag! It has a Peppa pig toothbrush, a colouring-in featuring Carrots and a toothbrushing chart to fill out at home to help develop good brushing habits!
We’re so proud to begin our Cavity Free Club – watch this space for more details about how you can keep your kids teeth healthy!
And thank you so much for having us St. Columba’s Wilston!
Dr. Grant McGrath BDSc
Co-Founder
Method Dental