Outreach

“Tar Heel Smile Makers” at Science Festival

Everyone knows the importance of good first impressions – particularly a group of girls who participated in a recent workshop on how to take dental alginate impressions.

The students were excited to mix the alginate and imprint the impression on the typodont.

The students patiently wait for the impression material to set.

Allied Dental Health faculty and students from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry led the “Tar Heel Smile Makers” workshop as a part of the March 18 Sally Ride Science Festival at Meredith College.

The festival featured a talk by astronaut Dr. Mary Ellen Weber; “discovery workshops” given by local scientists, engineers and health professionals; workshops to support parent and teacher efforts to interest girls in science and math; and a street fair.

UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry dental hygiene and dental assisting faculty and students led the ‘Tar Heel Smile Makers’ workshop and explained their roles within dentistry to the girls in attendance.

For the “Tar Heel Smile Makers” workshop, representatives from dental hygiene and dental assisting explained their roles within dentistry. Tara Copeland (DA 2007), Amy Nguyen (adjunct instructor in dental ecology), Linda Paquette (MSDHE 2008), Pam Wells (MSDHE 2008), Marsha Moser (adjunct instructor of dental ecology) and Kristy Williams (DA 2007) represented the School of Dentistry programs.

From left to right, first row: Tara Copeland, Amy Nguyen and Linda Paquette; and second row, Pam Wells, Marsha Moser and Kristy Williams.

“The main purpose of the workshop was to teach the young girls how to take dental alginate impressions and, more importantly, to introduce the girls to what it takes to become an exceptional oral health care provider,” said Nguyen.