We believe health is the foundation for a joyful, rewarding life. It needs a good start.
Our mission is to ensure that by age 18 every child has developed the skills, behavior and beliefs for a lifetime of health.
We do this through facilitation and co-discovery rather than telling and doing things for them.
The old model is not working—children everywhere still have cavities (it is even expected as normal or inevitable) and gum disease is a constant battle for millions of adults.
Traditionally, a visit goes like this: kids come to the dentist, sit passively while the hygienist cleans their teeth, hands them some tools and says, “go home, use these things, and do a good job.” Six months later, the child returns, often with cavity causing plaque and bacteria on their teeth. The process is repeated and they are told to “do a better job”—all without really being shown how to do a better job.
Realizing that we only understand and develop the necessary skills by doing–actively practicing in front of a supportive oral health coach–we have changed the model. How? With something we call the Self-Prophy model.
Take a look…
Learning Lab™
The mission of the Hands-On Learning Lab™ is to involve each child in his or her quest towards optimal oral health, total health and nutrition, and to gain a unique exposure to dental health careers.
Our Hands-On Learning Lab teaches kids to:
Learn about bacterial infection in teeth and gums such as Gingivitis (gum inflammation), Periodontitis (gum disease), Smoking Stomatitis, and Angular Cheilitis.
Discover how the acidity of various foods and beverages, regardless of sugar, effects enamel erosion and promotes cavity formation.
Witness through science experiments just how sugar plus plaque (bacteria) combines to cause cavities: sticky sugars verses liquid sugars, frequency versus quantity. Read the label and do the math to see just how much sugar is in your favorite pop or breakfast cereal.
Study the internal anatomy of teeth, gums, and bone: healthy versus unhealthy structures that require various dental restorations, root canals, orthodontics, and extractions.
Realize small changes in nutrition that make a big difference – changes that promote healthy mouths as well as healthy, strong, lean bodies.
Self-Prophy
Each child works one-on-one with one of our oral health coaches. We support developmentally appropriate skills for each individual. Also, we’ll take the confusion out of the seemingly endless choices of teeth-cleaning items (brushes, pastes, flossers and pics, fluorides, etc.) available today.
Our goal at each visit is for each child or teen to take one more step toward optimal dental health for a lifetime.
As their skills develop, our patients then have a chance to have some educational fun during their appointments.
