About

During my first year of high school, I traveled to Jamaica with a team of medical professionals and volunteers through our local church. The town of Port Maria, Jamaica opened my eyes to how people lived outside of my own community. Because access to affordable healthcare is very limited in this region, our medical team provided services to help them. For example, I assisted the pharmaceutical division while my mom, a dentist, delivered dental care. I also aided the dental team when traveling to elementary schools in the area to educate the children on dental hygiene. As I watched my mom and her fellow dental professionals survey and clean the students’ teeth, I saw that most had decay in their mouths. One moment I will never forget was my mom waving me over to look at a little girl’s teeth. She could not have been more than eight years old and all her teeth, including permanent teeth, were severely decayed. 

The next two years consisted of me thinking how to prevent this sort of deep decay in young children. At the beginning of this school year, I started this blog and website to educate people how their daily diet can harm their teeth. I also created a presentation and complementary video that would be entertaining and educational for elementary-aged students to learn how to better take care of their teeth. Through research, I have concluded that one of the leading causes of tooth decay is excessive sugar consumption. Thus, sugary drinks have become my focus. I expose the amount of sugar in popular beverages and create awareness of how this excess sugar damages teeth and can create pain and infection if not treated by a dentist. In addition to my presentation and video, I have cards to track how often the children choose water in place of various sugary drinks and bracelets to help them remember to participate. 

I have introduced my project to a school in my community with positive feedback, and I plan to reach out to additional local elementary schools as well as the Boys and Girls Club. I have been invited to share my project and presentation with schools on the Rose Bud Reservation in South Dakota this spring break. Tooth decay and degradation is a large problem that needs more attention and that I have a great interest in, so I take on the challenge of helping educate young children on preventative measures so that they retain healthy mouths.