Otsego Dental Learning Lab
The Otsego Dental Hands-On Learning Lab™ Helps Your Child Learn How to Stay Healthy for Life
The mission of the Hands-On Learning Lab™ is to involve each child in his or her quest toward optimal oral health, to gain an understanding of total health and nutrition, and to get a unique exposure to dental health careers.
Otsego Dental is proud to offer the Self-Prophy Model and Learning Lab.
You’re Invited!
What is it?
The Self-Prophy Model engages children to become more active in the learning process of their oral hygiene. The Learning Lab allows them to self-discover and watch what they are doing so that they can transfer the knowledge to healthy habits at home. We help guide them and encourage critical thinking instead of nagging and lecturing them on brushing and flossing.
Who:
Children under the age of 12. However, you use the Self-Prophy Model and disclosing solution on any patient that could use extra help with their oral hygiene.
Where:
First begin disclosing in hygiene room, then bring to learning lab.
When:
Disclose/self-prophy every appointment, then the Otsego staff can monitor their progression and give them tips.
How:
Allow them to look in the mirror, see the disclosing solution, and pick the hygiene products they will use to remove the solution. Ask them questions, try to allow them to discover things on their own. After the self-prophy, transition to a learning lab experiment! Experiments can range from elaborating on flossing techniques, encouraging healthy eating habits, to placing sealants on models!
What the Otsego Dental Learning Lab™ teaches kids
- Individual skill-building for optimal oral health
- Cavity formation, detection, and prevention
- Bacterial and inflammatory diseases in your mouth
- Oral cancer causes, detection, and prevention
- Nutrition for oral and total body health
- Dental professions exploration
- Forensic dentistry for fun
Younger children will work with our staff and be engaged in a fun and educational atmosphere where they will learn:
How to brush effectively
How often to brush
What happens to your teeth when you eat candy or drink sugary drinks
Why do you need to floss
What’s the difference between baby teeth and adult teeth
How many teeth do you have
Is the tooth fairy real?
Our Goal at the Otsego Dental Learning Lab is to help each child, by age 18, have as few teeth filled as possible and to help develop their skills and behaviors that will support a lifetime of dental health.
Self Care Model
In the Otsego Dental Learning Lab, each child works one-on-one with a hygienist as a coach. We support developmentally appropriate skills for each child. We help take the confusion out of the many choices of teeth-cleaning items (brushes, pastes, flossers and pics, fluorides, etc.) available today.
Our goal for every visit is for each child or teen to take one more step toward optimal dental health for a lifetime.