Courtney Voss

CI 405
Annotated Bibliography

Web Resources for Teaching K-3 Students About Dental Care

“Public Oral Health Information.” 2009. American Dental Association, Web. 24 Oct
2009. <http://www.ada.org/public/games/index.asp>
This website is a great resource created by the American Dental Association. On
the left hand side there are links for students as well as teachers. The link for students
shows another link to games, which are both educational and fun. The “Match-A-Tooth”
game works not only on memory, but tells students important dental care information
when they get a match. The “Dental Space Odyssey” game teaches good things to eat
that help teeth stay healthy. “To Tell The Tooth,” a game featuring multiple-choice
questions, can increase student’s knowledge on dental care. There are fun animations
and sound effects that make the game fun for students. Next, there is an animations page
that teaches students about primary and permanent teeth, brushing, flossing and other
dental topics. The animations can help students visualize proper practices for brushing
and flossing. It also has a worksheet about what dentists do and how you can become
one. This is a great resource for students who are interested in the field. Finally, there is
a word search printout that would be great to use to wrap up a lesson about dental care. I
really liked this website because there is a variety of interactive games for students to
play. I think that these games would increase knowledge of dental care practices and
potentially spark some interest in the field of dentistry. A link for teachers has
curriculum and presentation ideas that would be a great resource to use.

“MouthPower Online National Museum of Dentistry.” 2004. University of Maryland

Baltimore, Web. 24 Oct 2009. <http://www.mouthpower.org/>
This site would be appealing for students who like interactive sites. A mouth
takes you to her lab where she performs experiments that show what happens to your
teeth under certain circumstances. Students must go to each part of her lab and complete
an activity to earn a tooth. After earning six teeth, students receive a certificate of
completion. The “Creativity Corner” improves students’ art skills by having them create
a picture focusing on the harmful effects of smoking. In the “Dental Time Warp,”
students learn how dental tools have changed over 125 years. This is a great way to show
how technology has influenced the profession. The “Tobacco Station” shows the harmful
effects of smoking and chewing tobacco on teeth over a period of many years. Through
other activities, students learn about healthy eating, hygiene and cleaning plans, and how
teeth change as you grow. I really like the set-up of this site and that students get a tooth
for each activity they accomplish. I think this site would be especially intriguing to
students who enjoy science, as it is set up like a science laboratory. It helps kids learn
about a wide array of dental care topics, as well as the history of the profession.
“Milk Matters For Kids” National Institute of Health. Web. 24 Oct 2009.
<http://www.nichd.nih.gov/milk/kids/kidsteens.cfm>
This website explains the importance of milk in the diet. Milk is an important
food that contributes to the growth of strong teeth. This page has great games that show
what foods contain calcium. There is a link to a printable coloring book called “Milk
Matters with Buddy Brush.” It is available in English and Spanish. This printable
coloring book is informational as well as fun for students to color and read. It is a
twelve-page book that stresses the importance of milk in a child’s diet. The main
character, Buddy Brush, tells kids about why it is important to brush their teeth and drink
three glasses of milk everyday. I also like how the end of the book includes a page that
lists other sources of calcium that can help build strong teeth. This would be a great
resource to add to a larger lesson about nutrition and strong bones and teeth. I like this
coloring book because it can help kids learn to read as well as learn about dental care.

“SmileKids.” 2008. Delta Dental, Web. 24 Oct 2009.

<http://www.keepkidssmiling.com/news.html>
SmileKids is a website that is great for both teachers and kids. It provides
background knowledge on the subject, such as a list of terms with images that accompany
them. This is helpful so students know what tooth name corresponds to which tooth.
There are fun facts about how many teeth different types of animals have. Brushing and
flossing tips are both helpful and informational and there is a quiz to check student’s
understanding. Games, such as concentration, word search, word scramble and other fun
activities that children can play online. It is also helpful for students who may want to
become dentists in the future. A page about dental careers lists the jobs of dentists, dental
hygienists, dental assistants, and dental laboratory technicians. This page includes the
amount of schooling and where each of these people work. I think this website would be
informational for students, especially when researching the topic. It is a free website and
has a variety of helpful resources for students.

“Open Wide and Trek Inside.” 2000. BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc., Web. 24 Oct
2009. <http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih2/oral-
health/activities/index.htm>
Teachers and students will find this website informational and fun. For teachers,
there is a lesson plan and guide. It goes into detail about what this program will teach,
how to use the website, materials needed for the lesson, resources, and a glossary. Each
lesson provides labeled pictures, activities, worksheets, and take-home activities. My
favorite part of this website is the section for students. The interactive video features a
robot from outer space that has landed on Earth. He wants to know why humans have a
hole on their faces and what they do with it. There are activities that explore many
different parts of the mouth, such as what you can do with it. For example, there are
examples of chewing, whistling, yawning, talking and more. There are also activities that
explore the anatomy of the mouth. A matching game helps students learn where certain
teeth are located in the mouth. A movie tells students about how teeth grow and another
matching game helps students learn the different parts of the mouth such as tongue,
incisor, saliva and more. Another video shows students what lives inside mouths, such as
bacteria, how to reduce its effects. I would recommend this activity for younger children,
such as first graders. It will entertain, as well as educate them. I also like this website
because there are links to do the student activity in Spanish, with Closed Captioning, and
with Spanish subtitles.

“Kids Stuff.” 2009. American Dental Hygienists Association, Web. 24 Oct 2009.
<http://www.adha.org/kidstuff/faqs.htm>
This website is very helpful for background information on the mouth and teeth.
The homepage give students information about the different parts of teeth, the names of
the various teeth in a mouth and the total number of teeth adult’s have. It also says why
teeth are important and all the various things you can do with your mouth. The
“Common Questions” page lists various questions students may have about their mouths
and teeth. For example, one question is “At what age do children start to lose their baby
teeth? And how long does it take until all adult teeth are in place?” This is the place for
students to find the answer. Under the “Play a Game” tab, the first two activities,
“Visiting the Dental Hygienist” and “After School Treats” are informational. The first
shows the office of a dental hygienist. You can click on various instruments and parts of
the office, such as the chair and light, and learn more about what each object is used for.
The second activity is similar, but shows food in a kitchen and students can learn what
are healthy snacks to eat. Although these two activities concern dental health, the other
activities on the “Play a Game” tab have nothing to do with dental health and I would not
recommend them for this topic. There is a “Tooth Facts for Kids” tab that has more
questions about what a dental hygienist does and what to expect when you visit one. I
like this website because it focuses on the dental hygienist as well as dental care. It is
very easy to navigate and would provide a good starting point for students learning about
dental care.

“Classroom Resources.” 2009. Michigan Dental Association, Web. 24 Oct 2009.

<http://www.smilemichigan.com/Classroom/ElementarySchoolActivities.aspx>
This is a great resource for teachers who want to learn more about and teach about
dental care. There are many handouts for teachers to read to learn more about proper
dental care before teaching the topic to their class. There are activities for preschoolers,
elementary, middle and high school students. The activities for elementary school
students show a variety of dental care topics such as tooth decay, the importance of
fluoride, just to name a few. Many of these activities are hands-on and would get the
students interested in the topic. There are materials that can be loaned to teachers, such
as videos, books, models, and more. A list provides the names of the resources as well
as what age they are appropriate for. I am not sure if teachers outside of Michigan can
request to use these resources but the list is helpful for all teachers because they can find
the materials on their own. This is a helpful source for teachers to use to get their
students actively involved in learning about dental care.
“Healthy Teeth.” 2000. Nova Scotia Dental Association, Web. 24 Oct 2009.
<http://www.healthyteeth.org/>
This website provides a variety of activities for students to learn about dental care.
There is a list of links that lead to pages about dental care. These links are; cavities, a
visit to the dentist, braces, teeth and gums, experiments and activities, no butts about it,
quiz and cutting out the sugar. After clicking on one of these, it will change to
“prevention” and if you click on it when it says “prevention” it tells you how to avoid
getting cavities and how to take care of your teeth. Almost every page provides
information about a dental topic, such as cavities, as well as a image that changes and
moves. For example, on the “What Causes a Cavity?” page there is a green monster
(bacteria) using a jackhammer on a tooth. These images help kids picture what can
happen to their teeth if they do not take proper care of them. Some pages also have
images of real teeth that have decayed. They are somewhat disturbing and could get
children to practice good dental care so that their teeth do not look like that. The “Visit
to the Dentist” page lets you pan across different rooms of a real dental office, such as the
reception area, the dental operatory, and the room where they clean the instruments. You
can click on various objects in the images to learn more about them. The other links on
the website are appealing to children as well as informational. I really like this site and
plan to use it in the future. It is very kid-friendly and I think my students would learn a
lot from it. I also like the experiments it provides as a way to reinforce what the students
are learning from the site. I think that making a worksheet to accompany this site could
help students learn to navigate it and learn the information.

“Demos and Videos.” 2009. Procter and Gamble, Web. 27 Oct 2009.
<http://dentaleducation.pgschoolprograms.com/demos_videos.php>
Crest and Oral B provide an excellent web resource that both teachers and
students will love. The whole website is easy to navigate with tabs across the top reading
Home, Lesson Plans, Demos and Videos, Additional Resources, and Oral-Care FAQ.
The Lesson Plans page includes lessons that are for 15-20 minute time periods over 2 or 3
days a week. You can also create your own lesson plan that will accommodate the needs
of your class. The Demos and Videos page is my favorite part of this website. There is a
cartoon movie called “Dental Defenders Versus Cavity Creeps” that is both fun and
educational. Three regular kids turn into dental care super heroes as the image of a tooth
shines onto the night sky. Captain Toothpaste, Fantastic Flosser and Princess Rinse fight
off the Cavity Creeps that are destroying the mouth. The super heroes and Cavity Creeps
sing and dance to catchy songs about dental care. The three super-heroes tell students
about the proper technique to brush and floss and use mouthwash twice a day. The end
of the video reviews the benefits of brushing, flossing, rinsing, eating healthy and going
to see the dentist twice a year. The demos on this page show proper form for brushing
and flossing in animated videos with tips to accompany each animation. The additional
resources page has take-home printouts for students in both English and Spanish. There is
a chart for children to mark off when they brush, floss and rinse each day that can be
attached to a mirror. This is helpful to remind students of proper dental care at home
once they learn about it in school. Book recommendations as well as related links are
also available on this page.
“Dr. Rabbit and The Legend of Tooth Kingdom.” 2009. Colgate-Palmolive, Web. 27
Oct 2009.
<http://www.colgate.com/app/BrightSmilesBrightFutures/US/EN/Kids/LegendVi
deoChapters/HomePage.cvsp>
This video has ten chapters that go through the lives of children as their dentist
reads a story to them about the Legend of Tooth Kingdom. It is a cartoon with animals as
the main characters, which is appealing to children. I like this video for many reasons. It
is in chapters so a teacher could use it over a period of lessons and watch certain sections
again to review topics. Next, it is a fun as well as informational. It uses songs and
dialogue to inform students about proper dental care and health. The bottom of the
webpage has oral care reminders in brightly colored boxes that will catch the students
attention. There is a link to printable activities, such as a chart to fill out for when a child
brushes his teeth, word finds, and more. A variety of games will appeal to children as
well as educate them as they play. The Art Gallery features art done by children from all
over the world. I think this would be a great resource to use to show how children have
to take care of their teeth all over the world and how children are all similar even if they
are from different places. By registering, you can access teacher’s content but I was not
able to register because you must enter the school you work for and it’s address. I would
assume that the material is helpful but I will hopefully find out in the future if is useful.