MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Matthew C. Perry Elementary School students went on a tour of the Robert M. Casey Medical and Dental Clinic, and dental department staff visited the school Feb. 8 and 9.
The visits are happening all month long and are in connection with the National Children’s Dental Health Month, which is all of February.
“Children get a lot of cavities,” said Lt. Michael Hogan, a 3rd Dental Battalion, 11th Dental Company Detachment, Branch Health Clinic dental officer. “We raise awareness and show them what to do because a 5 or 6 year old may not be able to look on the Internet for dental help.”
For many children, this was their first visit to the dental clinic.
“The main goal is to expose them to the dental clinic just to become familiar with sitting in the chair, having someone look inside their mouth, to not get them scared, and for them to realize that dentists are their friends,” Hogan said.
Hogan, along with Navy Capt. Elizabeth Gaskin, the 3rd Dental Battalion, 11th Dental Company Detachment BHC officer-in-charge, gave M.C. Perry Elementary School students a tour at the BHC Feb. 8.
“Part of this tour was to orient them to the dental clinic, what kinds of things are found in the clinic and how they can help you,” Gaskin said.
The dental clinic tours were only the tip of the iceberg. Lt. Edward Wikle, a 3rd Dental Battalion, 11th Dental Company Detachment, BHC dental officer, along with Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan M. Nowell, a 3rd Dental Battalion, 11th Dental Company Detachment, BHC corpsman, went to visit the students in a M.C. Perry kindergarten class Feb. 9.
“We explain to the students the importance of dental health and how they can take control of their own dental health,” Nowell said. “We also pass out dental coloring books, stickers, toothbrushes and toothpaste.”
Armed with knowledge on how to keep teeth clean and a dinosaur puppet used to show the children proper brushing techniques, Wikle and Nowell engaged the students in a hands-on demonstration.
“The dinosaur was really funny,” Markis Burchett, an M.C. Perry kindergartener, said. “I brushed his back teeth because that’s where sugar bugs like to live.”
The National Children’s Dental Health Month message that raises awareness for clean and bright teeth was delivered by the BHC dentists.