Brush! Dental Curriculum

 
                                                                              

 

Brush! was designed to reduce the amount of serious dental decay in children. Dental decay is the most common childhood disease, five time more common than asthma. Children miss 51 million hours of school each year due to dental related problems.

The goal of the Brush! program:

Low-income children and their parents establish a habit of daily dental hygiene and regular dental visits that allow children to enter Kindergarten ready to learn.  Children will not suffer from the adverse effects of dental decay which may cause children to be in pain, and therefore inattentive in class, or to miss school because they are sick from repeated infections.

Using a comprehensive literacy-based approach. Brush serves children birth through age 5 and is delivered through collaborating preschools. 

Brush includes:

  • Preschool teacher training
  • Curriculum with 52 weekly lessons for children on the importance of dental hygiene and nutrition
  • Twice-monthly educational materials for parents. Newsletter
  • An original book for all children in the program, focusing on brushing their teeth.
  •  Monthly brushing chart for students and preschools to track their success

An important component of Brush is parent education. Parents are the drivers in whether their children brush their teeth, if they visit the dentist, and if they eat healthy foods.  Brush parent materials give easy to understand information on dental care, nutrition, the importance of family meals, and the importance of reading to their children.

Recommended Dental Hygiene Books

The "I Brush! My Teeth" picture book all children receive, helps young children learn to brush their teeth while developing early reading and language skills. On each page, children can identify colors and shapes, while learning a catchy rhyme that will help them remember to brush their teeth.  Parents also receive hints for how to read to their children and questions to ask to help their children increase their pre-reading skills.

Brush parent materials, and the Brush book, are also available in Spanish.

Please sign me up to receive more information about the program. Interested in sponsoring this program in your community? Contact Bethany Clapper

“I am impressed with the importance of this program and hope to have success with parent engagement while using it!”

Kathryn F., Warsaw Head Start

Thank you to our program sponsors:

Isaac Knapp Dental Education Foundation
Dr. Louis A. and Anne B. Schneider Foundation
Alliance of the Indiana Dental Association
Alliance of the Isaac Knapp District Dental Society