|
Oral Health Experiments You Can Do At Home
Note: as with any science experiments, it is recommended to have an adult for supervision.
Experiment #1 - Acid Attack
This experiment simulates an acid attack on teeth and bones (bones are rich with calcium, just like your teeth).
What you'll need:
2 clean chicken bones (ask your parents to save them when you have chicken for dinner)
1 jar
1 bottle of white vinegar
What to do:
Pour several inches of vinegar into the jar. Soak the clean chicken bones in the vinegar overnight.
What will happen:
Check out the bones after they've soaked in the vinegar overnight. Are they softer or harder? The acid dissolves the calcium and other minerals out of the bones to make them soft. This is similar to the way that bacteria and plaque can remove the minerals from your enamel when the decay process occurs. Be sure to throw the bones away in the garbage.
Experiment #2 - The Power of fluoride
This experiment simulates the protection power of fluoride.
What you'll need:
1 bottle of fluoride rinse solution (available at most drug stores)
2 eggs
1 bottle of white vinegar
3 containers
What to do:
Pour four inches of fluoride rinse solution into one of the containers and then place an egg in the solution. Let it sit for five minutes. Remove the egg. Pour four inches of vinegar into each of the remaining two containers. Put the egg that has been treated with the fluoride into one container of vinegar and the untreated egg in the other container of vinegar.
What will happen:
One egg will start to bubble as the vinegar (an acid) starts to attack the minerals in the egg shell. Which egg do you think will start to bubble? This shows the protective benefits of fluoride. The fluoride solution has made the egg shell more resistant to the acid attack. This demonstrates the effectiveness of fluoride to strengthen tooth enamel and make it more resistant to decay. Be sure to throw away the eggs after you're finished.
Experiment #3 - Floss is Boss
This will show how flossing is important to clean between teeth.
What you'll need:
a jar of peanut butter
some dental floss
a toothbrush
What to do: hold your hand with the fingers pointing up (your hand should look like you're going to give your friend a "high five"). Spread your fingers apart and have someone spread peanut butter between your fingers. In this experiment, your fingers represent your teeth and the peanut butter between them is food that gets trapped between your teeth when you eat. Tighten your fingers together again. With your fingers still tightly together and held upward, use the toothbrush to try and scrub the peanut butter away (remember not to move your fingers apart!). Now spread you fingers and see how well brushing alone cleaned between your fingers. Close your fingers again and have someone else try to remove the peanut butter using the dental floss between your fingers.
Which does a better job the toothbrush or the floss? This demonstrates how flossing is much more effective than brushing alone. A toothbrush simply can't reach all the places between your teeth.
Colouring Contest Page
Simply click on the picture below. Once it takes you to the new page, select "PRINT" to print a copy out. Colour it and return it to our office! No sweat!
|
