Celebrating National Children’s Dental Health Month at JFK Elementary School

More than seventy years ago, the American Dental Association established a one-day celebration in February devoted to pediatric dental health. Over the years, it has grown to a month-long campaign to promote dental health and awareness for children. The theme for this year’s event is “Water, Nature’s Drink!”

Here in Jamesburg, our pre-k students will be returning to a virtual learning model on February 16; covid restrictions have made it impossible to resume a normal schedule. Nevertheless, we are moving forward with activities for our dental health grant:

• water fountains have been replaced by water “stations” that provide students with access to filtered water
• a local hygienist is preparing dental “goody bags” with toothbrushes, floss and other supplies for the preschoolers
• we have prepared a list of local clinics that provide free or low cost dental services
• once the in-school schedule is established, we will provide pre-k classrooms with “dental bulletin boards” with tips, as well as resources and brochures that the children can take home
• at the next meeting of JFK’s Early Childhood Advisory Council later this month we will discuss our grant with community residents, and obtain parents’ suggestions for additional grant activities
• our dental survey is still in progress and the preliminary results are encouraging! Early returns indicate that many children drink water at least twice a day, but only drink soda or sports drinks once in a while. Also, parents are helping their children brush their teeth, which most children seem to enjoy. Among this first group of respondents, most children had recently received dental checkups.

At the end of Dental Health Month, we will continue our efforts to imbed dental health awareness into the school’s curriculum and culture.