The Assistance League of Corvallis used to have a more broad program that matched up needy children with dentists. But Kuenzli said the implementation of the Boys and Girls Club’s dental program filled that need, so the ALC changed its focus to education.
“We’ve been doing a dental education program in the sixth grades for over 20 years,” Kuenzli said. “We started with the Corvallis schools but now we do every sixth grade in Benton County. We go to Alsea, Kings Valley, Monroe, all over.”Sitting at their desks and looking closely into a tabletop mirror, sixth-graders at Philomath Middle School seemed to enjoy learning about taking care of their teeth.
Nancy Thompson’s early afternoon classroom listened to a presentation from Assistance League of Corvallis, which included a locally produced video and questions posed by the local chapter’s president, Nancy Kuenzli.
“We teach them how to brush correctly, floss correctly and we give them a brush and floss and things to take home,” Kuenzli said. “We set up mirrors on their desk and they sit there and practice. We show them exactly how it should be done. Then, we give them like a two-week practice sheet to check off with their parents to make sure they’re developing this habit.”
The bag of dental products that children took home also included disclosing tablets, which will turn their mouths pink to reveal plaque.
“We show them how to use them at home as a tool because it’ll highlight the plaque in their mouths so they can see, ‘oh, I thought I was doing a good job brushing but I can see where I’m missing.’ So that’s a good educational tool.”
The short educational video played during the program was actually shot several years ago now, but it has attracted a lot of attention and features local children, including Kuenzli’s daughter and other children of volunteers.
The program serves approximately 975 students in the county. Since February happens to be National Dental Education month,”We always try to get it all done in February; sometimes we have to start in January and go to March depending on when the schools can schedule us,” Kuenzli said. “We have a team of teachers, probably four or five of us, and divide up our time. We have classroom assistants that help us pass the stuff out and things.”
