Sprouting Teeth is passionate about helping young ones lose their fear of the dentist and maintain proper oral health
ABOUT SPROUTING TEETH PRIMARY DENTAL CARE
Sprouting teeth is a company guided by a Passionate and Concerned Oral Hygienist and Mother.
Rene Whitney has been a practicing Oral Hygienist who graduated Cum Laude from the University of Pretoria in November 2000.
Rene has been working with children for the past 15 years and has seen first-hand the traumatic results of a lack of dental education and bad oral hygiene habits, as well as the expensive and intrusive restorative treatments that young ones have to undergo as a result of such.
Rene is passionate about primary dental care as this is the first line of defense against gum disease and tooth decay. If implemented at an early age children will have no need for painful, traumatic procedures, and this benefits a child’s mental and social development.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Our aim at Sprouting Teeth is to keep all children dentally healthy since we are all born that way.
With this in mind, we have developed a project to visit children in the safe and familiar environment of their schools.
Our visit is split into two parts.
1. An educational visit which includes an interactive pantomime play that teaches the children good oral hygiene habits. (All children in school will participate and receive an activity pack)
2. A Clinical visit. Each child whose parents fills in the consent form will have a dental examination and preventative procedure which includes; fissure sealant, professional dental clean, and cavity prevention.
We have found that this has many benefits for the child and the parent.
For the child there is Positive Peer Pressure (they will see their friends participate and lose their initial fear of the dental practitioner)
For the parent this visit saves them time as they do not need to take their child to that long overdue and sometimes traumatic trip to the dental office.
EDUCATIONAL MODULE
Sprouting teeth has developed a multi-level educational module. We have different modules tailored to the needs of different age groups.
We have an interactive pantomime play that we offer, once a year, to children in preschool between the ages of 3-6. This is a fun experience for the little ones where they get introduced to some monsters that are harmful to their teeth and they will learn ways to combat these bad monsters in a fun and interactive session.
Sprouting Teeth strives to make the program as accessible to as many as possible so with this in mind the cost of the educational modules for levels 1-3 will cost R30 per child and will include age appropriate activity packs. The school has the option of incorporating this part of the program into an inning.
CLINICAL VISIT
The clinical visit is an integral part of the program. Sprouting teeth has a mobile dental unit that acts as a dental surgery which allows the oral hygienist to perform all preventive procedures within the confines of the school. The dental equipment is age appropriate to the different age groups that will be treated.
Ideally, the clinical treatments must be done bi-annually at a time that is suitable to the school. Sprouting teeth will provide dates and times that the school can choose which would be suitable and not disruptive to your regular schedules.
The treatments on the preschool children is very short averaging 5 minutes per child in chair. The equipment is also age appropriate as it has been found that adult Dentist equipment has a negative impact on the children and the noise levels scares them. Our equipment while being effective world standard products are not noisy and do not have the same effect on little children
Sprouting teeth wants the treatments to be as non-invasive as possible so we will guarantee that they will not be disruptive to the schools teaching schedules. This is inclusive of all age groups who take part in the program.
The parents are responsible for the payment of the clinical treatments. A consent form will be sent to the parent and they will have the option of a cash payment or claiming from their medical aid fund. There would be no cost to the school for this segment of the program.
Requirements:
Sprouting Teeth will need a room or an area that can be converted into a mobile dentistry for the period of the treatments. E.g. Nurses room or area that can be cordoned off.
CONCLUSION
Sprouting teeth’s program of visiting schools with the two fold purpose of educating children in proper dental care and carrying out treatments on the schools premises has been met with much success and positive feedback from the many schools where this program has been implemented.
We are positive that your school will also see the value of the program and embrace the ideals that we espouse.
Our aim at Sprouting Teeth is to keep all children dentally healthy since we are all born that way.
School visit with educational pantomime play and activity packs.
Clinical visit to carry our primary preventative dentistry with cleaning kit for each child.
