New Web Site Offers Teachers Help about Good Dental Health

Useful Information, Lesson Plans, and Activities Featured

A new Web site that helps kindergarten and elementary school teachers educate their students about ways to prevent dental problems such as caries (cavities) and achieve better oral health has been unveiled by the U-M School of Dentistry.

Led by Dr. Marita Inglehart, a psychologist and associate professor of dentistry, a team of researchers and clinicians collected Web-based resources focusing on oral health designed to support teachers' efforts to educate their students. Resources are organized into groups of lesson plans and activities, such as class demonstrations, word puzzles, coloring pages, and games. Information is presented in an easy-to-understand manner that is both useful and entertaining.

The Web site, www.dent.umich.edu/teachoralhealth, was developed following an extensive two-year investigation (2004-2006) into the oral health of more than 8,000 students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds at 35 kindergarten and elementary schools in Genesee County, Michigan, including Flint. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research funded the study.

Assisted by Dr. Daniel Briskie, head of pediatric dentistry at Mott Children's Health Center in Flint, the study revealed that many children have major oral health problems that affect their quality of life and their ability to learn in the classroom. Briskie is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry at the dental school.

The results of the study surprised many teachers, Inglehart said, "because many of them thought that if a child doesn't complain or say something in the classroom, then nothing is wrong. But we learned that's not always true."

One of the major findings was that nearly half of the students had untreated caries and that about 12 percent had painful dental abscesses and very deep and painful cavities. In addition, about 13 percent of students reported a toothache sometimes keeps them home from school, while another 26 percent of children reported having a toothache that hurt them when they were in the classroom.

"We used that information to help teachers recognize how children's oral health problems can affect learning in the classroom," she said. "During the past year, we conducted focus groups with teachers to learn more about ways they could teach their students about the importance of good oral health. The Web site is the result of those efforts."

Former dental school librarian Patricia Anderson, who worked with Inglehart, assisted in collecting the Webbased resources. Others at the dental school were involved in developing the site, including Chris Jung, who designed the Web pages and Emily Springfield who, as Webmaster, worked on the behind-the-scenes coding that makes the site operational.

Inglehart encourages teachers to visit the Web site and see which lesson plans, activities, and other information they can use. "If they have any questions or an idea about a lesson plan or topic, they can always send me an e-mail," she said. Inglehart can be reached by e-mail at: mri@umich.edu.