Adiska Family Dental community outreach for Dental Health Awareness Month
Girl Scout Daisies, Brownies, Juniors and Cadettes along with the staff of Adiska Family Dental. Photo courtesy of Amber Houttekier.
Dr. Heather Adiska and Adiska Family Dental are reaching out to the community during February, which is Dental Health Awareness month. Through a variety of presentations to different groups, they are working to educate all ages, but Dr. Heather Adiska especially hopes to get the message out that the earlier children start seeing the dentist, the better.
“We truly are honored that the community has chosen us to provide this type of oral health awareness, and strongly feel that we can do our part in helping prevent early childhood cavities,” she stated.
She explained, “A lot of people are unaware of the advantages in starting your child at the dentist at a very young age. We routinely see children starting when they are not quite one year of age, and I personally have seen a remarkable improvement in their oral health when we become their dental home early on, instead of waiting to age 3 or older. That’s really why we feel these presentations are so important.”
On February 6th, Adiska Family Dental dental hygienist Heather Jenkins and registered dental assistant Jennifer Cicalo joined Manchester District Library’s pre-school story time. Jenkins and Cicalo read a dental-related story, led a tooth craft, and distributed oral hygiene supplies.
Last Thursday, on Valentines Day, Adiska Family Dental hosted approximately 40 Manchester Girl Scouts from a number of troops at their office. They shut down normal operations for the last 2 hours of the day and set up stations for the Girl Scouts to cycle through.
Station one was led by their office administrator, Kara Manor, who discussed career options in dentistry including business staff, dental assistants, hygienists, and doctors. Station two was led by Jenkins who provided a thorough discussion of oral health and an experiment with peanut butter. Station three was led by Cicalo, who discussed hidden sugars and how a cavity forms. The Girl Scouts measured out how much sugar they thought was in a particular snack. Dr. Adiska led station four and discussed drink choices. At that station, the Girl Scouts had to try to match each bags of sugar with the beverage that contained each amount. At the end of the event, the Girl Scouts received oral hygiene supplies, a dental health Girl Scout patch, brushing chart, and “Rethink Your Drink” pamphlets.
On February 21st, Adiska Family Dental will be joining the Manchester Area Senior Citizens Council for lunch. The dental health portion will be very informal where lunch attendees can ask questions. After lunch they are providing entertainment in the form of BINGO and prizes, and will be distributing oral hygiene supplies as well.
Lastly, Adiska Dental has been and will continue to visit schools and daycares this month in Brooklyn, Tecumseh, and Manchester. At the schools they do a presentation on healthy food and drink choices, hidden sugars, brushing and flossing, how cavities form, and what happens when you go to the dentist to help alleviate any fear. At the end of the presentation they show a Dudley and Dee Dee (little dinosaurs) video and distribute oral hygiene supplies. Dr. Adiska has put together five different presentations, each of which are age-appropriate, so the kids will get exposed to different topics as they age.
Adiska Family Dental is located 500 Galloway Dr. (next to Carr Park) in Manchester. For more information, visit their website at https://www.adiskafamilydental.com or call them at (734) 428-8277.
Girl Scouts estimating how much sugar is in a drink with Dr. Heather Adiska. Photo courtesy of Amber Houttekier.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login