Sunday, June 5, 2011

Colgate Reaches Out to the Community with #BuildingSmiles Tour







Last week I announced the #BuildingSmiles twitter party! This party will talk about the oral health care and the #BuildingSmiles tour. This tour is "A Children's Oral Health Improvement Program" in the program reaches millions of under-served children. Mobile dental vans staffed by volunteer dentists and dental professionals visit local communities through the U.S in urban and rural areas. They perform free dental screenings for kids 12 and under where they don't use instruments but provide an exam where the doctor looks at their teeth and gives the parents a diagnoses sheet. Right now they are in Summer mode so they are visiting retailers such as Walmart across the U.S.

I was able to attend their Phoenix tour stop this weekend and met with the friendly staff of the West Coast tour.

From left to right: Camilo, Nina, Mary and Dr Jorge

This group was awesome and extremely friendly, I seriously wanted to tour with them their jobs seemed like a lot of fun! I was able to talk with them and find out about what they do first hand!

Nina was a great spokesperson, she answered all my questions and seemed extremely passionate about her job. She said that something they hear a lot from parents is parent's don't feel that dentist visits are necessary at a young age because kids loose their baby teeth and that is not true. The teeth they have when they are younger are holding the spots for the grown up teeth and it is important for them to have dental exams.

In the tour:

Dr. Brushwell is the mascot for the tour, he is the only rabbit to hold the Dentist professional title ;)




My daughter isn't sure about the exam. However, there was another girl her age who is actually a friend and she said if she did it, she would do it. She did it!


Dr. Jorge was great, extremely friendly and was really patient with the kids that were nervous. The exam only took a few minutes which I am sure the kids love!

Adrienne was extremely excited about these Silly Bands shaped that had a "Teeth" theme!




This is Jacob, he was actually very willing to do the exam not scared at all! I asked his mom a few questions and she said that he goes about every 6 months for a checkup. When I asked if she had any tips for other parents she said to read as many books about "teeth and dentists" as possible. She felt this really helped him feel more comfortable and also taught him how important oral care was.



Along with tips and a diagnoses, parents and children would also receive a "teeth brushing chart" which I loved for my kids along with a sheet on tips for excellent brushing and coupons. Coupons of course being for mom :)

What did we take away from the tour? Besides a great experience, I think I will have a brushing chart for the kids to fill out every time they brush. I will also be on them a little bit more about flossing because that is an area we probably lack in.

Interested in seeing if their is a tour stop near you this summer? Check out the calendar of dates in our Twitter Party RSVP list (and come party with us too!)

http://www.supersavingsense.com/2011/06/colgate-buildingsmiles-twitter-party.html

What do you find is the biggest battle when it comes to your children's oral care? Do you have any tips to share?



This opportunity has been sponsored in a partnership with Collective Bias and Colgate. Colgate did not give me any content to write. All pictures, opinions etc expressed in this post are solely my own.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a ton of fun and even took some best practices away from the event!!!

    ReplyDelete