Today was my first day back at school – to two of the four schools the Prince Albert School Based Dental Program works in. I saw about 45 kids all together – got them examined so the dental therapy team can now go ahead and start their work.
The two groups of kids turned out to be fairly different this year. In the one school is a class of what are called “transitional students”. These are kids that are having a hard time making it in the regular school program. I imagine there are a lot of reasons why. One of the things that I have come to recognise over years of treating people’s teeth is that how people treat their teeth is a reflection of how they treat themselves in other ways. If they like and appreciate themselves as people of value, then they tend to look after their bodies as well. This transitional class had some of the worst teeth that I have seen for awhile.
The second school is the one where we have invested most of our time and energy over the past few years. The kids we see are sometimes back to see us for several years in a row. Many of these kids had no dental work to be done other than regular preventive stuff. They come in and are very comfortable with the dental team – and they feel good about themselves. Maybe we are making a small dent in the community. One can always hope.
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