The Court House had a very special visit from Robyn, Martha, and Liv who work at the Bupa Dental Practice in Keynsham. The ladies started the session by introducing themselves to the children – Robyn is the dental nurse, whilst Martha is the dentist, and Liv the receptionist. Liv explained how she is usually the first person that the children will see at the dental practice as she is always at the desk waiting to check people in so she can tell the dental team that they have arrived to their appointment. Robyn explained how her role is to call the patients in and support Martha in her job, which is to look at their teeth.
Robyn went through some information on how to care for your teeth – this included a discussion on how many times we should brush our teeth, how much toothpaste to use, as well as foods that are good for your teeth and foods that we need to eat in moderation with meals to have a balanced diet whilst avoiding the unwanted bugs hanging out on our teeth which may mean we need more dental attention.
After this discussion, Martha gave the children each a sticker from the practice and explained that at the end of a dental appointment, we may get one of these after having our teeth checked. The children listened beautifully and were very engaged when the team were questioning the children to understand their knowledge – and without any surprise, the children gave fantastic answers as they were able to talk about this confidently.
After this, the children split off into 2 groups where they were able to explore activities prompting good oral hygiene. This included using toothbrushes to clean the role play teeth, exploring the dental equipment, and playing games to organise food groups whilst dressed as a dentist. The children were immersed in this experience and even volunteered to have their teeth counted whilst using a special brush that the dentist used to touch each tooth as they counted. They were able to take these brushes away and have a go themselves. The children thoroughly enjoyed this and once we said goodbye to the wonderful team at Bupa Dental Practice, we had all sorts of discussions on what we learned.
This activity was a great way to support our implementation of the EYFS in “promoting the good health, including oral health, of the children” and in line with the BCC Curriculum element of “understanding what it means to be healthy”.
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