Hands-on lessons help students learn hygiene

If you don’t want your teeth to fall out, “brush, brush, brush.”

That’s what Layton Singleton, a kindergarten student at Banks Primary School, learned when Dr. Regina Hendrix and members of her staff at Troy Family Dentistry visited the school on Friday.

But Layton also learned that it takes more than bushing to keep his teeth and gums healthy.

When, Hendrix quizzed the kindergarten students as to the things that must be done to have healthy teeth, they replied in unison, “Brush (with prompting)… and floss, eat healthy stuff and go to the dentist.”

That’s the message that Hendrix said she hopes the students at Banks Primary School would take home with them.

“This is National Children’s Dental Health Month and we wanted to visit the school and talk to the students about dental health,” Hendrix said.

“This is the first time that we have been to Banks Primary School and it’s the only school that we will visit during National Children’s Dental Health Week. We would like to visit all of the schools but that’s not something that we can do.”

Hendrix, laughingly, called the visit to Banks Primary School, the “maiden voyage.”

“I’m hoping to recruit fellow dentists to make visits to the schools,” she said. “I would like for us to be able to make annual visits to all the elementary schools to talk with the students about dental health and what they can do to keep their teeth healthy so they can have them all their lives.”

Each student at Banks Primary School received a goody bag that included toothpaste and a toothbrush and went home knowing a lot more about how to care for their teeth.