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Saturday, May 14, 2011

...@ jardin de los ninos

In the kindergarten school, we attended both sessions. We were there at 9am and 2pm to see a total of 34  4 and 5 year old children. What a lovely day that was!!! The students wanted to stay longer and play.
Glades was our presenter/interpreter that morning.

There is always that one child in every classroom who knows all the answers! ;-) 
In this class, it was Antonio Jose.

Like most public schools in Mexico, the children wear uniform.

We asked, "Who could open their mouth as wide as possible?"

After we gave each child a toothbrush, we showed them how to brush their teeth, and they showed us how to do it. We were bonding big time!

After the presentation, we took them to the classroom next door to perform the screening and fluoride application.

Translation and picture-taking! (see Sam in the background).

One of the few kids who had no decay in this class.

Sam wants to take at least one home.

They were all shy at first. This little girl was so sweet with Shannon.


Very proud...and very cute!

The chair was a tad small for us...but we made it work.


Krista and her little girl, waiting for Glades to write a special note in Spanish on her screening form.  We also gave each child a balloon after the screening.

This little boy showing Shannon quite seriously how he brushes the inside of his front teeth.




We were all smiles all day! Who wouldn't be...with these children?
Sadly, this population group showed the highest decay rate of all the schools we visited. Although, we feel that our field school is making a positive impact with our visits to the schools for the last 5 years,  seeing this amount of decay rate at this age level was a clear indication that more education needs to occur with the parents and families directly.


At the end of our morning session!

Las chicas, big and small!

Sam and one of the children doing cartwheels on the grass.

Waiting at the gate for the 2pm kindergarten session.

Indira helped us in the afternoon.

They look so serious, don't they? They were really paying attention. Very sweet.




At the end of our 2pm session and another productive day.

5 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness these kids are adorable!

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  2. If you do find decay, is there a referral process to a local dentist? What type of collaboration are you finding?

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  3. Hi Jacquie,
    Yes, the screening forms that we gave to the teacher to give to the parents include a diagram of the dentition and the suspected decay areas and a checklist of things to do after we are done (e.g. brush 2-3x a day, use a fluoridated toothpaste, eat healthy snacks, visit the dentist, etc. If we suspect decay, we make it very clear on the form about seeing the hospital or local dentist for consultation/treatment. We do this with the help of the interpreter. Often, we dictate what needs to be written and they help us with it. Unfortunately, the hospital dental clinic is not that efficient and many people know this and tend not to go. There is a new local private dentist in town and he seems better received so we tell people to go to him too (cost a little bit more though). The "field dentist" at the hospital stayed with us all afternoon today. Wonderful collaboration. There were a lot of questions to and from him. He took a PA on one of our patient who had mobility and exudate on his max. anteriors. He helped us get set up for Krista to do an IANB and a buccal. Very cool.

    Great to hear from you!

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  4. Excellent. Great to have some LA experience. It is also great to hear that they have some options for dental treatment, although quite limited.
    The diagram is a great way to communicate with the parents, and a way that will reinforce what they have heard.

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