Sink Your Teeth Into These Dental Health Month Lessons

Gary Hopkins, Education World

February -- Dental Health Month -- is the time of year when many teachers help students "brush up" on their awareness of tooth care. This week's lessons capitalize on that once-a-year "teachable moment."

Dental Health Month provides teachers with a month full of great curriculum connections. In the primary grades, where the emphasis is on taking care of their teeth, teachers can encourage good tooth care habits by having students track their brushing habits on a brush chart. First-grade teachers, in particular, can create a class graph, so students can keep track of teeth lost throughout the year. They might even join this year's Tooth Tally Project. In addition, Dental Health Month offers younger students the opportunity to share some fun read-aloud books.

As students move up the grades, hands-on experiments are a great way to drive home the importance of tooth care. Creating a timeline of dental history is another great curriculum connection. Many great Web sites also are available to help you teach about teeth and dental health.

Of course, students at most any grade level will appreciate some dental jokes!

This week, Education World adds to the mix of Dental Health Month activity ideas by providing . . .

FOUR MORE LESSONS FOR TEACHING ABOUT DENTAL HEALTH
Scroll down for the complete lessons.

1. Which Toothpaste Do You Use? (A Graphing Activity)
Collect data about favorite toothpastes. Bar graph work sheet included. (Grades K-5)

2. Making a TV Commercial for "Brighty-Whitey" Toothpaste
Create a new brand of toothpaste that's sure to sell! (Grades K-12)

3. The History of Dentistry
Learn about dentistry's ancient roots. Student work sheet provided. (Grades 6-12)

4. Smile Collage
A collage of smiles is sure to spread happiness. (Grades K-8)

1. Which Toothpaste Do You Use? (A Graphing Activity)

Subjects

• Arts & Humanities
• Educational Technology
• Mathematics
• Health

Grade Levels

• K-2
• 3-5

Objectives
Students will:

• collect and compile data,
• use the data to create a graph that represents that data, and
• answer questions about their graphs.

Keywords
data, toothpaste, dental health, dentist, graph, teeth, statistics, bar graph

Materials Needed

• My Survey: What Toothpaste Do You Use? (PDF, 71K) work sheet
• colored pencils or crayons

Procedure

Present each student with a copy of the My Survey: What Toothpaste Do You Use? (PDF, 71K)work sheet.

If you teach younger students, you might write the names of popular toothpastes on the tubes for students. (You might write brand names on four tubes and "Other" on the fifth tube.)

Older students will want to do the survey on their own and create the graph to reflect the survey data they gathered; they might even want to color the tubes on the graph to look like the actual toothpaste tubes.

Have students survey 15 of their friends to learn which toothpaste they use most often. They might survey their classmates or take the survey on the playground at lunchtime. (You probably do not want to have them survey family members, because members of many families will use the same toothpaste; that will throw off the data students collect.) Students should write down each respondent's name and his/her toothpaste of choice.

Once the data is collected, students compile it and color the graph to reflect the survey results.

Have students share their graphs. As students share their graphs, ask questions that require them to read their graphs. For example, you might ask, On your graph . . .

• do more people use Aquafresh or Arm & Hammer?
• which toothpaste is more popular -- Closeup or Pepsodent?
• how many more people use Crest than Colgate?
• how many people in all use either Mentadent or Ultrabrite?

Extend the Lesson
Integrate technology by having students create their graphs using the free and easy-to-use Create a Graph tool. Or you might use that tool to compile and illustrate all the collected data.

Assessment
Use the What Toothpaste Do You Use? work sheet to create a sample graph of your own. Copy that graph onto a transparency. Project the transparency image and have students answer five or ten questions about that graph.

Alternative Assessment: Set up your graph in a learning center and have students answer the questions when it is their turn to complete that center activity.

2. Make a TV Commercial for "Brighty-Whitey" Toothpaste

Subjects

• Language Arts
• Visual Arts
• Educational Technology
• Health
• Social Studies

Grade Levels

• K-2
• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Objectives
Students will

• think creatively to create a brand identity, packaging, and TV commercial for a new brand of toothpaste.

Keywords
toothpaste, commercial, consumer, ad, advertisement, TV, sell, media literacy

Materials Needed

• art supplies
• video camera (optional)
• A Toothpaste That Is Sure to Sell!  (PDF, 78K) work sheet

Procedure

This lesson challenges students to think creatively.
Students might work on their own or with a partner to complete this activity. (You might match a student who has artistic skills with a student who has writing skills.)

Ask students to list the names of toothpastes they're familiar with. You might write the names of those toothpastes on a board or chart.

Then ask student if they can recall any TV commercials they have seen for those toothpastes or others. Talk about the commercials they have seen; How do the toothpastes look or taste differently from one another? How did the commercials present the toothpastes to the audience? What did the commercials say or do to get people to buy the toothpaste they advertised? What key words or slogans might those ads have included?

When the discussion begins to wind down, present the lesson's activity: Challenge students to create a TV commercial for a new toothpaste, Brighty-Whitey Toothpaste!

Or, better yet, have students -- working on their own or with a partner -- come up with their own new toothpaste that will be sure to sell!

To start students thinking, you might present some of the following questions for them to consider as they create their toothpastes:

• What age group did you market your new toothpaste product to?
• What is special or unique about your new toothpaste product?
• How will your toothpaste tube and packaging look? What will make it stand out from all the other toothpastes in the toothpaste section?
• What slogan will you use to "grab" consumers so they will buy your toothpaste?
• How will you include information in your ads about the health benefits your toothpaste offers?

If students work with partners, they can brainstorm ideas in response to those questions. The partners might decide who would be better at creating the packaging and who would be better at writing the script for the TV commercial that will sell their toothpaste. Using ideas they brainstormed, the "artist" will work up a pencil draft of the package while the "writer" works up a script for a TV commercial. The artist might draft his or her package on the A Toothpaste That Is Sure to Sell! http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/TM/toothPaste_Pkg.pdf (PDF, 78K) work sheet.

When students have drafted their initial ideas, they will share those drafts with one another, gather feedback, and then go to work creating a final package or script.

When students have completed their packages and scripts, set aside a time for them to share them with their classmates. You might arrange to have a video camera available. Tape the commercials, then play the videotape during Parents Night; or produce multiple copies to send home on a rotating basis so families can enjoy the students' efforts.

Assessment
You might use the thinking questions (above) as the basis for a rubric for judging students' efforts. Rate each presentation on a scale of 1 to 3 as noted below. For example,

• Was the product special or unique in any way?
  1.) It was exceptionally unique. 2.) It had some unique features. 3.) It was not very unique.
• Will the toothpaste packaging stand out next to all the other toothpastes on the store shelf?
  1.) It will really stand out from the others. 2.) It might stand out. 3.) It will not really stand out.
• Does the new toothpaste have a catchy slogan?
  1.) Its slogan is very catchy. 2.) Its slogan is good. 3.) Its slogan will probably not sell many tubes of the toothpaste.
• Did the commercial include any mentions of health benefits?
  1.) It included good information about health benefits. 2.) It included a little information about health benefits. 3.) It included no mention of health benefits.

Classmates might use the rubric to evaluate one another's efforts as well.

3. The History of Dentistry

Subjects

• Language Arts
• Educational Technology
• Health
• Science
• Social Studies

Grade Levels

• 6-8
• 9-12

Objectives
Students will:

• learn about dentistry's ancient roots and modern history, and
• read a brief history and answer questions on a comprehension work sheet.

Keywords
dentist, teeth, Dental Health month, Herodotus, Egypt, comprehension, ancient

Materials Needed

• Historical Overview of Dentistry (students can access this brief history online, or you can provide printed copies of the 2-page history)
• The History of Dentistry work sheet  (PDF, 90K)

Procedure

In this lesson, students learn about the history of dentistry by reading the Historical Overview on the History of Dentistry Web page, either online or in printed form. Then they complete the The History of Dentistry work sheet.

Work sheet answers appear in the Assessment section below.

Extend the Lesson
Students might put together a timeline of dental history. The History of Dentistry Web page offers individual pages that go into much greater detail about dentistry through the ages. You might arrange students into pairs or small groups and assign each group a different era in dental history:

• Dentistry in Ancient Times
• Greek Rationale Theories
• Etruscan Practical Approach
• Arabian Contribution
• Decline in the Dark Ages
• The Guilds
• The Renaissance
• The Nineteenth Century
• Dentistry Becomes a Science

For students who work well independently, you might have them explore some of the additional sections of the History of Dentistry Web page:

• Experimental Dentures
• The Biting Truth About Dentures
• History of Toothpaste

Additional Resource
History of Dentistry Timeline (from the American Dental Association)

Assessment
Students correctly identify 12 of the 15 statements on the work sheet.

Answers: 1.T, 2.F, 3.T, 4.T, 5.F, 6.T, 7.T, 8.T, 9.T, 10.F, 11.T, 12.F, 13.T, 14.T, 15.F.

4. Smile Collage

Subjects

• Language Arts
• Visual Arts
• Health

Grade Levels

• K-2
• 3-5
• 6-8

Objectives
Students will

• reflect on happy times in their lives, and
• participate in creating a class collage.

Keywords
smile, collage, mural, Dental Health Month, teeth

Materials Needed

• mural paper
• magazines, newspapers, and other sources of advertisements/images of smiling people
• glue, tape, or staples
• writing paper

Procedure

Before the Lesson
Draw on a large sheet of mural paper an outline of a big smile. Include lips and teeth on the outline. Students might paint the lips red or cut red construction paper to conform to the outline of the lips.

For those of you with minimal art skills, you might use the smile image on this page as a guide.

Then have students collect from magazines, newspapers, and other sources pictures of smiling people. Cut out those pictures and glue, paste, or staple them to the lips of the smile mural to create a smile collage.

Another Idea
Take digital photos of your smiling students to include on the collage. You might even print the photos on red (or fluorescent pink) paper and cut them to form the lips.

Extend the Lesson
Have students write a paragraph or short essay about a time they could not help smiling or laughing. You might have students write their paragraphs on tooth-shaped paper. Then you can add the teeth to the mural. Or students might copy their edited drafts onto one of the teeth on the mural. Post the mural to a bulletin board under a headline such as "SMILE: It's Dental Health Month!"

Assessment
Students write drafts of their essays. They have a classmate edit their drafts before creating a final copy to post on the mural/bulletin board.

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