CHENANGO COUNTY – After educating 3,900 elementary students on the importance of dental hygiene and providing them each with two dental hygiene kits this school year, the Chenango Dental Task Force announced this week that two Chenango County schools will be piloting toothbrushing in the classroom in their summer school programs.

The two schools will join Unadilla Valley in implementing toothbrushing in the classroom, and Chenango United Way Executive Director Elizabeth Monaco said, “Unadilla Valley is our inspiration. They’ve done so much work in their school to improve the oral health of their kids that we’re trying to model what they do across the county.”

Monaco said she is unable to confirm which two schools are piloting the program this summer in addition to UV, which already implements it, but said it’s her hope the toothbrushing in the classroom program will carry into the regular school year in the fall, with other districts following their lead.

“We can’t mention who they are yet. We brought on two schools who are going to, this summer, be piloting toothbrushing in their summer program,” said Monaco. “They’re going to be doing it every day with the kids in the program, and hopefully, it will go into the fall.”

Chenango Health Network Population Health Coordinator and Dental Task Force Chair Jamie Hagenbuch said their long-term plan is to hold a presentation annually at each elementary school in Chenango County, while donating dental hygiene kits bi-annually. The goal is to promote toothbrushing into children’s routines at a young age.

“If we can ensure that they’re doing it in the day at school, then they might go home and say, ‘Hey mom, this is what I did at school––can we do it at home too?’”