VOLUNTEER TRYING TO TEACH: Toothbrushing

Many children in the nursery had bad teeth and caries. They didn´t brush teeth at home. The parents were not aware of the importance of brushing teeth, especially not the first teeth that will fall out and be replaced anyway...

So we got each of them a toothbrush and buyed some tooth paste. We wrote the names of the learners on their brush and sticked them into a egg carton (It is better if the brushes don´t touch each other when you keep them, to avoid the spread of infections).

Out of to frisbees and some styropor I made a toothbrushing model and we explained them the most important points of toothbrushing:

Brush in circles
Brush each tooth in a circle
Brush the top teeth and the bottom teeth
Brush the inside and outside of the teeth
Brush the chewing surface
Brush every morning when you get up and every evening when you go to bed

Every day when we dissolved the morning circle, we marched to our tooth-brushing place outside of the nursery hall. Marching to that place, we sung the toothbrushing song. We stood in a circle around our purple bucket that had a tub. The teachers distributed the toothbrushes and toothpaste. For hygenical reasons, please do not put the toothpaste directly from the tub to the brushes, but make little paste pies on a plate first and take the paste from there with your brush. When every child had got toothbrush and toothpaste, the children started brushing. The teachers helped a little, if child needed help. Most important was to remember them to "spit out!" when they already got tears in their eyes because their mouths were full of saliva.

Toothbrushing – Song

Brush brush brush your teeth

Everyday!

Brush the top teeth,

Brush the bottom teeth.

Brush the front teeth,

Brush the back teeth.

Brush brush brush your teeth

Everyday!

I have a little toothbrush

I hold it very tight

I brush my teeth each morning

And then again at night.

Toothbrushing-Story

This picture is part of a toothbrushing-story that I have written and illustrated myself. You can see all 7 pictures here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx2b2x1bnRlZXJ0cnlpbmd0b3RlYWNofGd4OjRhMzMzM2I5NTVkOGEyOGE

I also have high-quality scans of the pictures that are too big to upload them, but that I can send you on a CD for free if you contact me (elena.ziegler.ruiz@googlemail.com).

The story of Tsogolo and the Caries-Monsters exists in English and in Chichewa. We had a meeting with the parents in the nursery in which we informed them about the importance of toothbrushing. We read aloud the story and the informational sheets and gave them Chichewa handouts. The parents were very interested!

If you are interested, please follow these links:

Story Tsogolo and the Caries-Monsters: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx2b2x1bnRlZXJ0cnlpbmd0b3RlYWNofGd4OjQyYmM0OTgyN2ExZTJlNDI

Story handout in Chichewa: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx2b2x1bnRlZXJ0cnlpbmd0b3RlYWNofGd4OjdiYTA2ZmQzNzgxNTdhNzc

Information for parents English version: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx2b2x1bnRlZXJ0cnlpbmd0b3RlYWNofGd4OjMyMjVmM2RjZjBiMDQxMzE

Information for parents Chichewa version: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx2b2x1bnRlZXJ0cnlpbmd0b3RlYWNofGd4OjEwYTQ1NGFkNmVkYzE5MTY