Guardian Life Insurance, Children’s Health Fund Team Up to Teach Students Oral Hygiene
An effort focused on helping kids develop lasting and proper oral health habits is making its way to St. Matthew Catholic School in Phoenix, bringing with it giant floss, larger-than-life teeth, and other interactive elements. Talking to them about dentists and why they need regular checkups to keep their teeth healthy is important and a necessity. If their family doesn’t have a regular dentist, they can always go online to such websites as Opencare and see where they can find the best one for them all.
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America has joined forces with the Children’s Health Fund to enact the Guardians of the Smile program, which seeks to help counter the effects of poor oral hygiene by helping kids learn about and implement strong oral health habits. Studies show that poor oral hygiene can lead to a host of education-related issues, among them lower standardized test scores and increased absence from school, and the Guardians of the Smile program seeks to boost academic performance by ensuring that students have access to dental resources and education.
Earlier this week, Guardian presented St. Matthew Catholic School with a $10,000 grant, following up on the $1 million it pledged to the Children’s Health Fund, with the money enabling the school to stock healthy, nonperishable snacks for students throughout the school year. Arizona State Senator Otoniel “Tony” Navarrete was among those in attendance at the special event held Wednesday, March 13, which granted students from kindergarten through second grade a chance to wrangle giant floss, brush oversize teeth and meet the Tooth Guardian, who offers instruction on how to properly brush and floss teeth.
Guardian and the Children’s Health Fund will continue their efforts to improve oral health and hygiene for residents across metro Phoenix in the coming weeks as they distribute 500 dental kits filled with floss, toothbrushes and toothpaste to those in need across the region.