As the arrangement remained the same, we managed to get the children from Tabika Kemas Taman Bedong Jaya over to Tabika Kemas Taman Permai by 9am.
The activities held this time around were:
Story Telling by Lai Pei Shan.
Musical Chair and Pass-The-Egg Game by the entire group.
Oral Health Quiz by Jeeva and Kam Chuan Eng.
Toothbrushing Drill headed by Lai Min Shin and assisted by the rest of the group.
"Program Doktor Muda" Roleplaying by the entire group.
I, Lai Pei Shan, wrote and drew up a comic about three teeth siblings (loosely translated to Malay as Adik-Beradik Gigi) who went on an adventure in the woods. Many nights were spent painting the drawings and I have to thank all my group mates who didn't mind coming over to help me complete it. The story was meant to educate the children about the relationship between sugary food, teeth and bacteria.
I introduced the three teeth siblings as Si Geraham (Little Molar), Si Kacip (Little Incisor) and Si Taring (Little Canine). The three teeth siblings were depicted as happy and healthy dentition.
Here's a video of my entire story telling session.
Min Shin was kind enough to hold up the storyboard for me while I told the story.
They lived in a mouth house (Rumah Mulut) with their mother. One fine day, they decided to go out for a stroll.
As the sun was shining brightly in the sky, they thought they should explore further into the woods.
While playing and singing in the meadows, they chanced upon a house which was made entirely of sweets, chocolates, ice-cream and plenty of other confectionaries imaginable!
The curious teeth siblings knocked on the door (which was made of biscuit) and were greeted by a friendly purple monster! Initially, the three teeth siblings were a little taken aback.
To win the teeth siblings' trust, the purple monster introduced himself as the Germs Monster. I initially wanted to name it Caries Monster but perhaps the children would be more familiar if I used the term "germs". The Germs monster appeared friendly but he had other intentions. As you can see in this photo, he was hiding his favourite sweet behind his back. He would proceed to squash this sweet onto one of the teeth siblings' heads. By doing so, I am trying to explain the 'food impaction' concept to the children.
The Germs Monster loved to eat his favourite sweet from the heads of little teeth. This is akin to the S. Mutans bacteria attacking any available sugar on the tooth surface.
As the teeth siblings got nearer to the Germs Monster, they were kidnapped but fortunately Si Taring managed to escape.
The Germs Monster squashed his favourite sweet on both Si Geraham and Si Kacip's head. They were crying because it hurt a little and they were scared.
Si Taring went home to get a tooth brush and a tube of toothpaste. He hurried back to the Germs Monster's candy house.
Before the Germs Monster could hurt his siblings, he squashed half the tube of toothpaste onto the Germs Monster. The Germs Monster immediately dropped his fork and spoon and became really dizzy and confused as he happens to be extremely scared of toothpaste.
When the Germs Monster ran away in fear, Si Taring helped to brush away the squashed sweet from his siblings' heads.
While Si Kacip came out unscathed from the incident, Si Geraham was not as lucky as he had already developed some cavities. He was also hurting at the same time.
Si Taring took his little brother to the dentist who was depicted as a very friendly man.
After explaining the consequences of having cavities, the dentist filled up the cavities with composite.
After the restoration was over and done with, Si Geraham felt much better and he was a happier tooth than before!
Later that night, they told their mother about their adventure out in the wood. Their mother praised them for dealing with the incident bravely and treated them to a glass of milk each. The tooth mother said that drinking milk would make them become healthier teeth on top of constant toothbrushing.
By becoming healthier and stronger teeth, the teeth siblings will no longer have to fear the Germs Monster ever!
After my story telling, Min Shin asked the children some questions according to my drawings. I was happy that the children managed to answer his questions as it would mean that they were actually listening to me the whole time.
After the story telling session, we took the kids out to the garden for some games. We could not expect the children to be sitting through a few hours of oral health education activities and hence some games were thought up to keep them entertained.
To get them into the mood, Min Shin made them do some light exercises.
When they started to get really excited, he taught them how to play the musical chairs game while Chuan Eng looked on.
Khoo was very hands on with the children as well. Dr. Niekla encouraged us to have more physical contact with the children as children warmed up to touch.
Here's a video of the musical chair game.
The children learned fast and were soon rushing to plant their bums down on any available seats as quickly as they could.
Chuan Eng took on the task of holding our 'music player'.
As you can see, Dr. Niekla started to enjoy herself as well.
As per Dr. Niekla's instructions, we danced with the children too.
The idea was to ensure that the children stayed cheerful and active throughout the day. This was when they were divided into two groups for the next game.
This game is called "Pass The Egg". Since we did not have any eggs with us, we had to use a ping pong ball.
The children from Khoo's group were determined to win this game.
Here's a video of the "Pass The Egg" game.
Min Shin taught the children how to play the game and within minutes they all understood how the game went and had a really good time.
As the children have behaved so well throughout the day, we rewarded the children with some stickers that we brought along.
It clearly made their day.
As the children settled down, Jeeva and Chuan Eng took to the stage with their oral health quiz.
The children were happy to show off the stickers they received!
Jeeva and Chuan Eng's quiz was fairly simple enough for the children to apply what they learned from the activities we conducted throughout the two visits. The children were already very bright to begin with and were very responsive to all the activities we conducted.
Here's the video of Jeeva and Chuan Egg's oral health quiz.
Some children were a little more reserved than the others and needed some coaching. All children were duly rewarded even if they could not give us the answers at the first attempt.
We were very lucky that the children were so enthusiastic in answering questions. Jeeva and Chuan Eng's quiz covered all aspects of oral health such as oral hygiene maintenance, the types of teeth we have, healthy food and the functions of our teeth.
Cze-Yin helped out by explaining and reinforcing about the various types of teeth.
The children were very excited when Chwan Horng announced the winner of the colouring contest.
This charming little girl won herself some pencils, the A&W bear which Min Shin got for free with his set meal from A&W and some stickers. She happily showed her classmates her reward and we felt a little bit bad because the other kids were rather envious of her wins.
After the prize giving ceremony, it was time for another round of toothbrushing drill. The purpose of the second round was to reinforce the proper toothbrushing techniques and to drum in the importance of keeping one's teeth clean. The children were very cooperative, they even remembered to bring the toothbrushes which we gave them two weeks before!
As usual, we tried our best to help individual kids with their techniques.
Min Shin led the session as usual.
Watch how the toothbrushing drill was conducted.
Some of the children needed some assistance to perfect their technique but most of them were doing very well on their own.
Our group members were very hands-on as they tended to every aspect of the session.
Our last activity was the "Program Doktor Muda" roleplaying session where the children took turns to play the role of a dentist and another child would take on the role of the patient.
How small are the kids these days?
The idea was for them to look into their friends' mouth and to familiarize themselves with what the dentist is doing when he is looking at their teeth. Most children are apprehensive when you use a mouth mirror and a dental probe hence by having this role playing session, the children would have a better understanding on exactly what the dentist is looking at. They would understand that a simple check-up would not hurt them in any way at all.
We guided them by asking them to count the number of teeth present in the mouth. Some children were very cute and said things like, "Banyak lah, tak boleh kira." (Too many to count).
This photo is just priceless. The little boy is all seriousness and the girl appears to be doubtful of his intentions.
Before we left, we managed to have a group photo with the two kindergartens and their teachers.
I thought it was rude to ask one of the teaching assistants to help us to take a group photo hence I interchanged with one of my group members to take this photo.
This was probably the brightest little girl among the two kindergartens. She answered everything and was keen to take part in all the activities. She is totally deserving of the free A&W bear which Min Shin got for free with his set meal from A&W.
We learned that children were not all that scary to begin with as most of us are feeling rather worried about the impending paediatric dentistry clinical sessions. All it takes is to be able to relate to them and get to know them as individuals, not just as children. We hope that the children at both kindergartens have taken a liking to us as well and will feel comfortable around us when they come for their dental check-ups at our dental hospital.
