It is important to establish good oral health habits early. Poor oral health can impact a child’s ability to socialize, receive proper nutrition, sleep, and learn. Ultimately, oral health has an impact on overall health and overall, poor oral health can contribute to many health problems, including chronic disease.
The Children’s Oral Health program has available two Oral Health Education Toolkits. Based on Ontario Curriculum, the Primary Grade toolkit aims to empower educators to teach routine oral hygiene habits (brushing and flossing), nutrition, tooth safety and importance of healthy teeth. The second toolkit contains materials specifically for educators and caregivers of children aged 0 to 3 years, focusing on similar themes. Both kits contain interactive materials including games, puppets, short videos, topic specific handouts, and an educator’s guide explaining information on the various oral health messaging.
See below for more information and how to sign out each toolkit:
Primary Grade Oral Health Toolkit
An interactive resource developed by the TBDHU is available to primary grade educators (JK - Grade 3) to use in lessons about oral health. The Primary Grade Oral Health Education Toolkit promotes the importance of healthy teeth, how to brush and floss using good techniques, tooth-friendly snacks and nutrition, and tooth safety.
The toolkit consists of a user manual, flip chart, puppet, tooth-friendly snacks game, and tooth models. Each tool is interactive for children and is accompanied by clear instructions for the educator, making it easy to use in lessons.
To sign out the toolkit, educators can call the Oral Health Program at (807) 625-5984 or toll free at 1-888-294-6630 ext. 5984 and provide their name, school name, phone number, email and the desired dates of use.
Start Early - Oral Care for Children 0-3 Toolkit
The Early Years toolkit is a great, informative resource for Early Childhood Educators to use and assist with guiding parents and guardians in the development stages of a child’s oral health. The Early Years Toolkit was created for children ages 0-3 years of age. The Early Years Toolkit promotes the importance of baby teeth, proper home care and brushing methods, healthy snacking and nutrition and teething.
The toolkit consists of a user manual, flip chart, puppet, interactive question and answer activity, and tooth models. Each tool is interactive for children and is accompanied by clear instructions for the educator, making it easy to use in lessons.
To sign out the toolkit, educators can call the Oral Health Program at (807) 625-5984 or toll free at 1-888-294-6630 ext. 5984 and provide their name, school name, phone number, email and the desired dates of use.
For Further Information
Call the Oral Health Program: (807) 625-5900
or toll-free 1-888-294-6630