"This is the way you brush your teeth!"

We were so excited when our dentist at home donated us enough children's toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste for all the kids at the orphanage. I remember wondering what the day would be like, what the kids would be like, what Cambodia would be like, ect. I can clearly remember the anxious excitement and couldn't wait to give them out to the kids!
We made our daily lesson plan around learning how to brush our teeth. We reviewed and learned words such as, teeth, gums, lips, tongue, cheeks, smile, dentist, cavity, ect. We created special steps to follow when brushing your teeth and a checklist of all the thing you'll need. The kids were stoked about their new brushes, but our dentist was right about the toothpaste, they just wanted to eat it. It was really hard to actually get them to brush and not just eat it off the brush then ask for more! We we shocked that when they spit, the water from their mouths was black. We knew that oral hygiene was non existent here as we could tell from all their rotted teeth but we didn't expect to see that! In all, it was so much fun learning to brush teeth and it has now become a daily routine for the children. Hopefully the following volunteers keep it up. :)
-Kendal