On September 30th, a group of eight volunteers from TUSDM joined ADO in giving oral hygiene instruction to around 180 kids at the Bo De Meditation Center in Braintree, MA during their weekly Sunday Vietnamese class: Ping Zeng (D20), Brent Mullen (D20), Monica Cheng (D20), Emerly Hsu (D21), Sandra Khuu (D21), Yi-Chen (Jo) Chiang (D21), Trish Dang (D20), Irene Lang (D21).
Irene Lang (D21) reflects: “We split up into 3 groups, and each group taught 2 classes of kids age 6-14 how to brush and floss (6 classrooms total of around 30 kids each), what foods are good or bad for teeth, and how cavities form. We were able to use the teach back technique using the stuffed animals for the younger classes, and led the older kids in 2 enthusiastic games of jeopardy. At the end of our oral hygiene instruction sessions, it was a great feeling to come back together from our groups and share informally about our experiences. All of the classes, especially the older ones, were extremely excited and engaged in both asking and answering questions throughout all of the sessions. The kids especially liked the more challenging questions, as many of them were excited to share with everyone what they knew. Often, even the adult teachers were excited to jump in to guess on a jeopardy question or ask some of their own questions about how to take care of teeth. Having so many kids show up and receive oral hygiene instruction was incredibly rewarding and fun, and all the volunteers were happy to have spent a Sunday afternoon serving the community.”
