As part of our World of Work week, we had an introduction to dentistry.   P6/7 pupils were looking at the effects of smoking and the dental nurses produced a jar containing tobacco and a set of teeth.   It was fascinating to see the different equipment and examples of tooth decay and it was so realistic as we could even experience the SMELL of decay…… Lovely!   Pupils were shocked to see the different cancers that were found on the tongue, the gums and the mouth and I think that this had the biggest impact on each of them.

The staff also highlighted the levels of sugar that are found in many of the foods that pupils regularly eat, such as Jaffa Cakes, and Rice Crispies.   They counted the spoonfuls of sugar and were so shocked to find that there are 6 teaspoons of sugar in a Jaffa Cake.   I’ll certainly not be eating as many of those anymore!   Toward the end,  we gave pupils the opportunity to master the brushing of their teeth.