Your job is to make sure children get a good head start in life. Our job is to help! Brushing Is Fun, Start By Age 1, the producer of Tooth Talk, has created a one-hour, web-based training course to teach medical providers how to apply safe and healthy fluoride varnish on very young children’s teeth. Fluoride Varnish is a safe, painless, effective way to protect baby teeth from tooth decay. Best of all, it’s a quick and easy part of a well-child visit.
Thanks to this free training course for medical offices and clinics, more children will be able to eat, grow, hit developmental milestones, sleep, talk, and smile without the pain of tooth decay. North Carolina is a national leader in teeth health for kids. NC’s fluoride varnish program has been making a difference in children’s oral health since the late 1990s.
Safe and healthy fluoride varnish takes just a few minutes in the medical office, and is as easy as 1, 2, 3:
- Fluoride varnish is painted on the child’s teeth with a tiny brush.
- It dries quickly.
- It instantly begins protecting little teeth from tooth decay.
That’s it! Fluoride varnish is recommended two to three times a year by the American Dental Association, along with healthy habits such as brushing two times a day with fluoride toothpaste, limiting sugary foods and drinks, and visiting the dentist.
How can you share the good news of fluoride varnish with parents?
- Remind parents that partnerships matter. Just as you and parents work together for the health and safety of their children, medical and dental offices are working together too for children’s oral health.
- Tell parents that medical offices are protecting children’s teeth with oral health screenings and fluoride varnish. Many of these medical offices and clinics are Medicaid providers.
- Ask parents to talk to their medical providers about fluoride varnish for their child. The new e-learning course for medical providers is available through Wake AHEC.
Want to share resources about safe-and-healthy fluoride varnish with the parents in your program? Click for English or Spanish brochures.
