Dollar or Less Days - Dec 3rd & 4th, 2011
Enjoy a holiday treat with FREE admission to the National Museum of Dentistry. Designated by Congress in 2003 as our Nation’s premiere dental museum, we have a unique and diverse collection of artifacts that is sure to intrigue and entertain the curious mind. As a Downtown Baltimore partner, NMD particiaptes in this wonderful annual event that offers visitors admission for $1 or less at selected downtown area attractions. For the complete list of participating attractions, go to “www.godowntownbaltimore.com”
Healthy Smiles for Autism Guide - FREE download
The National Museum of Dentistry has created a new resource to help parents of children with autism spectrum disorder succeed in teaching good oral healthcare. Healthy Smiles for Autism is a guide that helps parents teach children with autism spectrum disorder how to brush and floss with the help of step-by-step instruction, social stories, and visual sequencing cards that can be used wherever brushing happens. This guide is free and downloadable at http://www.healthysmilesforautism.org.
The Healthy Smiles for Autism guide was created to empower parents of children with autism spectrum disorder with usable tools to help effectively teach their children an oral health routine. The guide also provides information to help parents prepare their children for a first dental visit.
“We want to be able to give parents readily usable tools to help their children to develop a good oral hygiene regimen,” said National Museum of Dentistry Executive Director Jonathan Landers. “We’ve combined best practices for autism education, such as visual sequencing cards and rewards systems, with proven personal oral hygiene techniques to help make the process a little bit easier.”
The National Museum of Dentistry partnered with Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Center for Autism and Related Disorders and University of Maryland Dental School to develop these best practices to oral health care for children with autism spectrum disorder.
Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others—including the dentist. Dental care is the leading unmet healthcare need among children with special needs, and across all income levels, children with special needs are almost twice as likely to have an unmet oral heath care need than their peers without special needs, according to the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center.
The National Museum of Dentistry, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, develops unique learning opportunities to engage the public in discovering how to have a healthy mouth for life. Also available free to the public is the MouthPower website that teaches good oral health skills to children, and the Get MouthPower website that reveals the special oral health care needs of adults 50+.
The Healthy Smiles for Autism parent guide is made possible by the support of Henry Schein Cares, the Global Corporate Social Responsibility program of Henry Schein, Inc., Blakeslee Advertising, and a generous gift from Dr. Irwin and Lucia Smigel.
MouthPower Day - October 8
Sink your teeth into fun for the whole family during MouthPower Day!
Saturday, October 8, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Explore how a healthy mouth is part of a healthy body during this daylong festival spotlighting how to get moving, eat healthy, and take care of your teeth. Try your hand at jumping rope, learn about good foods, and find out how to have a healthy smile with hands-on exhibits about brushing and flossing.
“A healthy mouth is a part of a healthy body,” said National Museum of Dentistry Executive Director Jonathan Landers. “We hope to get everyone moving and thinking about what they eat so they discover that a sparkling smile is a part of a healthy life.”
MouthPower Family Day is a part of the National Museum of Dentistry’s pledge to help fight childhood obesity. The Museum has joined the national Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens initiative, launched by the First Lady Michelle Obama with the Institute of Museum of Library Services, to provide opportunities for millions of museum and garden visitors to learn about healthy food choices and promote physical activity through interactive exhibits and programs.
An Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of Dentistry develops unique learning opportunities to engage the public in discovering how to have a healthy mouth and body. Messages about healthy food choices are an important part of the Museum’s signature MouthPower oral education program for children, which includes an on-site exhibit, special programming, and online game (http://www.mouthpower.org) in English and Spanish.
