"BRAYCES ACADEMY" School Program
Dr. Bray and Dr. Pfund constantly strive to maintain the best quality care
for their patients. In that regard, they feel pride in presenting the oral
health programs for the 2007-2008 school year. The doctors and staff have
heard recommendations and suggestions from many and have tried to incorporate
as
many of them as possible in this year's presentations.
With 25 years experience as a dental hygienist and a Master in Science in Health Education, one of our staff has developed and implemented these programs to enhance the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards for Comprehensive Health.
We offer individual classroom presentations as well as group assemblies. The individual classroom format has been extremely popular; these can be scheduled during a timeframe when dental health will be covered by the teacher. We are offering our programs during the entire school year, not just one month.
Our School Health Coordinators are Karen, Teri Lee, and Chris. Programs may be scheduled by calling 646-2299 or by emailing
.
Prizes are available for all dentally-informed children!
New this year will be a Power Point presentation featuring various aspects of dental health.
Tobacco Awareness
The "BRAYCES" office of Dr. Bray and Dr. Pfund is proud to announce its participation in the joint initiative of the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) and the American Lung Association to address a major health threat: tobacco use by children.
We are working with the American Lung Association because of our concern for our patients' overall health. We see more pre-teens and teenagers over an extended period of time than any other health care professional, so we have a unique opportunity to discuss the serious dangers of tobacco use.
Orthodontists "putting the bite" on tobacco use is a new approach in the fight to stop children from starting smoking or using smokeless tobacco. With 2 million adolescents becoming new smokers each year (5,000 light up each day for the first time) and 80% of patients under 18, there is a great opportunity for us to educate and practice preventive medicine.
These issues plus the immediate and eventual health implications are the reasons Dr. Bray and Dr. Pfund, the AAO, and the American Lung Association are committed to snuffing out smoking for orthodontic patients in the new millennium.
Groundhog Shadow Program
This year we participated in the National Program of Groundhog Job Shadow Day. This program allows businesses all of the country to mentor students by having them come and spend some time "shadowing" and learning about their line of work.
Since we had so much interest in the program by local schools, we extended the program to be offered over the course of February and March. In conjunction with the Health Education Classes at school, our program will support their instruction by providing information about the anatomy, functions, and care of the teeth, gums, and mouth. We also explained how "BRAYCES" work. We divided each class that visited our office into groups and circulated them through a series of learning stations.
Here are some pictures from our staff making classroom visits:
Margie and Karen showing the students proper brushing techniques.
Dr. Pfund showing the students some tools the orthodontist uses.
Della explaining Nutrition and the Food Pyramid to the students.
In years past, our professional staff has spoken in classrooms about dental health and will continue to do so, but we found that having the students in our office for hands-on demonstrations and observations provided a great learning experience.
Please contact our office if you are interested in learning more about our program.
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