“Eat. Sleep. Scale. Repeat.”
Future dental professionals at NC s will wear their dedication to their chosen profession on their sleeves in honour of National Dental Hygienists Week (NDHW), April 4-10.
More than 50 senior Dental Hygiene students are ready for NDHW 2023 to promote the profession and the importance of good oral health.
Their initiatives include an in-person event for NDHW at Applied Health Institute (foyer) on April 6 from (10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.); a Striking Smiles bowling fundraiser at Parkway Social on April 5 (5-8 p.m.), in support of The Hope Centre in Welland and Community Care of St. Catharines/ Thorold; and social media promotion of NDHW on Instagram (follow them @ndhw2023).
Dental Hygiene Student Zoe Schoonings (Port Colborne) worked alongside her classmate Catalina Arenas to design t-shirts for their class and dental staff to wear throughout the week. The t-shirts feature a tooth graphic with “NDHW ’23” and one of three different slogans including “it’s a beautiful day to save smiles,” “live life to the maxillary,” and “Eat. Sleep. Scale. Repeat.”
Students model their NDHW 2023 t-shirts.
“Everyone had the choice to purchase the one they liked best,” said Schoonings.
Schoonings and Arenas organized the NDHW social media page for the college community to follow and stay up-to-date with events happening through the week, which will feature photos and posts related to oral education and the dental hygiene profession.
She has also collaborated with Adriana Sansotta to help organize the Striking Smiles bowling fundraiser.
“This event is our way of not only being able to come together in recognition and celebration of National Dental Hygienists Week but to give back to our community as well,” said Schoonings.
“As a future dental health professional, I feel it is my responsibility to advocate for my profession and the oral health of members within my community, especially for those that find it more challenging to access and afford daily oral hygiene self-care items,” said Sansotta. “I am really excited to be leading an event that will ultimately support the oral health needs of those who need it most.”
For the April 6 on-campus NDHW event, Schoonings and her group has put together “a fun way to recognize NDHW” – a photo booth with various dental props for individuals to pose with, take photos, and post to social media.
“Something that I am looking forward to about NDHW, is being able to recognize and celebrate this extremely rewarding profession,” said Schoonings. “After all the designing, organizing, and planning I am so excited to see everything all come together throughout the week!
“I have a strong passion for the dentistry, so getting involved with DH week has allowed me to express my passions for the amazing profession that dental hygiene is.”
Sansotta (Bolton/ St. Catharines), who helped to organize the bowling fundraiser with Schoonings, is part of a group who will lead a “Ring N’ Rinse’ booth at the on-campus event on April 6, which will outline the top 10 interesting facts about mouth rinses, and how they contribute to optimal oral health. They will feature an activity regarding a mouth rinse ring toss, where every participant will be given three chances to land the ring around a bottle of mouthwash. For every successful toss, each person will have the chance to enter their name into a draw to win an oral hygiene prize pack.
“I genuinely feel very proud to be a part of NDHW initiatives because I will be promoting oral health for both Niagara College students, as well as my extended community throughout the Niagara region,” said Sansotta. “This experience really makes me proud to have chosen a career in Dental Hygiene because I have the opportunity to participate in events where I may encourage others to reflect on their oral health, and to support their journey towards achieving a healthy and happy smile.”
Dental Hygiene student Catalina Arenas (Toronto/ Welland) helped Schoonings with designing t-shirts and is helping to run the Instagram page that leading up to the on-campus event. During the event, she will work on ‘dental jeopardy’ game, where attendees have a chance to win prizes while learning some dental information along the way.
“I am especially excited about NDHW because this is the opportunity to really get NC students involved and educated on the importance of dental hygiene not solely as a focus on our career, but the importance of oral health in general,” said Arenas.
She finds it rewarding to connect and help educate on students on the importance of their own health and connect them to services offered on campus, including the state-of-the-art NC Dental Clinic.
“This not only helps get the NC community the proper health services they require, but it also helps hygiene students meet graduation clinical hour requirements,” she said.
National Dental Hygienists Week (NDHW) 2023 is an annual event recognized by the Canadian Dental Health Association.NDHW 2023 will take place from April 4-10
“Students have the opportunity on a daily basis to interact with their individual clients, but something like our event for National Dental Hygienists Week, now affords students the opportunity to reach out to the community in a fun and exciting way,” said School of Allied Health Professor Alaina Gauthier. “It allows the students to reach out to people on a much larger scale. It encourages students to use different skill sets and further hone their skills as a dental hygiene.”
Adriana Sansotta and Zoe Schoonings played key roles in organizing the Striking Smiles bowling fundraiser.
Zoe Schoonings and Adriana Sansotta enjoyed working together to plan the Striking Smiles bowling fundraiser.
Related article
NDHW 2023: Dental students plan AHI event, bowling fundraiser for National Dental Hygienists Week
