Where There Is No Dentist 2012 37
Why Do We Need Teeth and Gums?
THE IDEA:
Your teeth and the gums around
them help you in many ways.
Teeth are important for:
Good Health. Infection from a bad
tooth can spread to other parts of
your body.
Good Looks. Healthy teeth that
look good help you feel good.
Good Speech. Your tongue and
lips touching the teeth help you
make many sounds.
Good Eating. Your teeth break food into small pieces so that you can
swallow and digest it better.
Good Breath. If you leave food around your teeth, your breath will smell bad.
Your gums are important too.
They fit tightly around the teeth, and
help to keep them strong. Without
strong gums, your teeth are of no
use. Most old people lose teeth
because of bad gums, not bad teeth.
ACTIVITIES:
1. Draw or cut pictures of people from magazines. Make posters to
show that healthy teeth make a person happy, while bad teeth make a
person sad. Use the posters for discussion.
Hang up a picture of a person the
students know and like. Put black on
one of her front teeth. Talk about it.
OR
Leave the picture for a few days. Then
put black on some of her teeth before
the students come to school. See who
notices first.
When someone sees the difference,
talk about how the person looks, how
teeth can be lost, how to prevent that,
and what she can do now.