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The Whole Bite Club
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The lesson plan, then the notes for every slide. Print on A4 and take the second sheet to the board.

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The Whole Bite Club · Year 3 and Year 4 · Lesson 5 · After the visit

Guard your smile

The unit closes on protection, in three layers: the daily guard, done properly; the sport guard, and not only for football; and the emergency plan for the first minutes after an adult tooth is knocked out. Students then make something another person can use. This is the band's highest-value content: these students play sport, and the correct action when a tooth is knocked out is counterintuitive.

Learning intention

In this lesson, we will learn the three ways we protect our teeth, and make something that helps someone else.

Success criteria

I will know I am successful when I can:

  • I can brush for two minutes, reaching the gum line and every surface, and say why we spit and do not rinse.
  • I can name three sports where a mouthguard is worth wearing.
  • I can make a card that gives the steps for a knocked-out adult tooth, in the right order.

Guiding questions

  • Why does toothpaste keep working after you have finished brushing?
  • Netball is not a contact sport. Why would you wear a mouthguard?
  • Someone's tooth is on the ground. What do you do first?

Vocabulary

gum line · mouthguard · crown · root · socket

Australian Curriculum

AC9HP4P08, AC9HP4P10

Support

  • Run the sequence physically with real props first: a tooth model, a cup of milk, a cloth. Give the four steps as pre-cut picture cards. The card's writing gaps accept drawings.

Challenge

  • Write and film a 30-second first-aid demonstration for the school's sports teams, and decide where it should be shown.

EAL/D

  • Every step is a picture before it is a phrase. Pre-teach crown, root and socket with a large diagram. "Knocked out" is idiomatic and gets said plainly once: the whole tooth has come out.

Disability

  • The brushing demonstration is modelled with a large model and a partner rather than performed in the mouth, and nothing goes in any child's mouth. The card is available pre-printed with the steps for students who cannot write four boxes in the time, so every student leaves with a usable card.

Exit ticket

  • Which part of a knocked-out tooth do you hold: the crown or the root?
  • Your friend's adult tooth is knocked out at lunch and there is no milk anywhere. Name two things you can do straight away.

Assessment of learning

The card is the band's second summative piece and is marked on step order. Students then self-assess their two-minute brushing against the three-surface criterion.

Rubric line

Gives first aid steps for a knocked-out adult tooth.

Working towards

names two of the four steps

At standard

gives all four steps in the right order, including milk or spit rather than water

Above

does that and can say why the root must not be touched

Inclusion notes

  • Never imply that a child without a custom mouthguard is being failed, and never mention cost in front of the class.
  • Not every family has a dentist to write on the back of the card, so the blank line is optional and the class also writes the public dental service number. Do not require any home resource.

Resources

  • Years 3 – 6 Supporting Resource Pack
  • A large tooth model and a toothbrush for the demonstration; nothing goes in any child's mouth
  • Props for the emergency sequence: a model tooth, a cup, a cloth
  • Printed Sports bag card sheet, four cards per A4, plus a pre-printed set for students who cannot write four boxes in the time
  • A mouthguard to pass around, if the school has one
  • The public dental service number, written up for the back of the card

Worksheets to print

  • Sports bag card · /downloads/3-4/sports-bag-card.pdf
  • Lesson 5: Guard your smile (PowerPoint) · /downloads/decks/3-4/05-guard-your-smile-slides.pptx
Oral Health Home · admin@oralhealthhome.com · www.oralhealthhome.com. Lesson text is reproduced from the Whole Bite Club teacher guide.

Guard your smile · handout for the whiteboard

Teacher notes, slide by slide

The number beside each note is the slide it belongs to, counting from the first.

  1. 1.TitleGuard your smile

    Three guards today: every day, on the field, and in an emergency. Then we make something someone else can use.

  2. 2.Success criteriaWe will know we can do it when:

    The card is collected and it is the band's second summative piece.

  3. 3.SlideThree guards

    Name all three now so students know the shape of the lesson.

  4. 4.SlideThe daily guard

    Bleeding gums mean inflammation from plaque, not a reason to skip the spot: keep brushing the area, gently, with a soft brush. Harder is not better. From six a child uses the ordinary family toothpaste rather than the little-children kind. Say no amount; none is sourced.

  5. 5.GameBrush along

    Existing timer. Do the full two minutes with the class, standing up. It is longer than anyone expects, which is the point.

  6. 6.SlideSpit, do not rinse

    The strengthening ingredient is what prevents decay, not the scrubbing. Never use the other word for it.

  7. 7.SlideWhere a brush cannot go

    Claim reach, not cavity prevention: no randomised trial has shown an effect on decay between teeth.

  8. 8.QuestionNetball is not a contact sport. Why would you wear a mouthguard?

    Take answers before the list. Most students think this is a football rule.

  9. 9.SlideThe sport guard

    The ADA's own list. Then: a shop-bought guard is much better than none. Say the second half without hedging, and never mention cost in front of the class. A guard lasts several seasons as long as the wearer is no longer growing, and a dentist checks the fit. State no interval; none is published.

  10. 10.QuestionSomeone's tooth is on the ground. What do you do first?

    Take answers. Expect "wash it". That is the misconception the next slide fixes.

  11. 11.SlideThe emergency plan

    Minutes matter. Milk first, spit if there is no milk — the ADA names both for transport, and the exit ticket asks for the second one. Teacher detail: the ADA says get to a dentist within 30 minutes; IADT puts best replanting inside about 15 minutes and under 60 in milk or saliva. The ADA's third option, holding the tooth in the mouth between the teeth and cheek, stays in this note and off the slide: inhalation risk with a young or dazed child. A baby tooth never goes back in. If it is dirty, a quick rinse in milk or the person's own spit, and do not scrub it. Never under a tap.

  12. 12.GameTooth Rescue

    Four steps into order, plus one card that does not belong in the line. Play it twice. The block also holds the physical sequence with props, which comes first.

  13. 13.WorksheetSports bag card

    Four cards per sheet so one family gets a set. Mark the order first, the wording second.

  14. 14.Exit ticketWhich part of a knocked-out tooth do you hold: the crown or the root?

    The two questions from the lesson plan. The application question is answerable from slide 11, where both milk and spit are taught.

  15. 15.RecapYou are a member of The Whole Bite Club

    Hand back the lesson 1 charts so students can see what they knew at the start. Certificate.

Oral Health Home · admin@oralhealthhome.com. Prototype handout.

Where this comes from

  1. Dental Care For Kids · Australian Dental Association · Opened 5 September 2026. That cleaning between teeth starts once two teeth touch, which is why a brush on its own is not the whole job. https://teeth.org.au/dental-care-for-kids
  2. Brushing teeth for kids: picture guide · Raising Children Network · Opened 5 September 2026. How much toothpaste a child of each age uses, and that from six it is the ordinary family kind rather than the little-children kind. https://raisingchildren.net.au/school-age/health-daily-care/dental-care/brushing-teeth
  3. Dental injuries - Knocked out, chipped or cracked teeth · Better Health Channel · Opened 5 September 2026. The first aid for a knocked-out adult tooth: hold it by the top, put it back if you can, keep it in milk if you cannot, and never put a baby tooth back. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/Dental-injuries
  4. Policy Statement 2.2.5 - Prevention and Management of Oral Injuries · Australian Dental Association · Opened 5 September 2026. That a mouthguard made for your own mouth protects best, and that one from a shop is far better than none. https://ada.org.au/policy-statement-2-2-5-prevention-and-management-of-oral-injuries
  5. Dental Trauma · Australian Dental Association · Opened 5 September 2026. What to do with a knocked-out adult tooth, in the order the page gives it: if it is dirty, one gentle rinse and never a scrub; back in the socket straight away; and, where it cannot go back, it travels in milk or the person’s own spit, never in water, in the page’s own words "Put the tooth in milk or your child's saliva to transport it to the dentist as soon as possible". https://teeth.org.au/dental-trauma
  6. Sports Mouthguards · Australian Dental Association · Opened 5 September 2026. That a mouthguard is worn for training as well as for games; that a growing mouth is what ends a mouthguard's life, so one that fits today needs its fit checked while a child is still growing; and, in the page's own key messages, that the best-fitting one is made by a dentist — "A mouthguard custom made by a dentist will provide the most protection for the teeth and mouth". No replacement interval, because the page states none. https://teeth.org.au/sports-mouthguards
  7. Fluoride toothpastes of different concentrations for preventing dental caries · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · Opened 5 September 2026. That the strengthening ingredient in toothpaste is what prevents decay, and that how much of it there is changes how well it works. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD007868.pub3/full · doi:10.1002/14651858.CD007868.pub3
  8. Gum disease · Better Health Channel · Opened 5 September 2026. Why the teacher note tells a class that bleeding gums are inflammation rather than a reason to leave the spot alone: the page names bleeding gums as a symptom, explains the inflammation as the immune system's response to plaque, and says not to stop brushing. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/gum-disease
  9. Children/Adolescents, Oral Health Services · Metro North Health, Queensland Health · Opened 5 September 2026. What Queensland's own school dental service tells families: brush morning and night, the strength of toothpaste to look for, and how to book a check-up. It is the state service the visit sits alongside. https://metronorth.health.qld.gov.au/hospitals-services/oral-health-services/school-dental-old/children-adolescents
  10. International Association of Dental Traumatology guidelines for the management of traumatic dental injuries: 2. Avulsion of permanent teeth · Fouad AF and others, Dental Traumatology, 2020, read from a Wayback snapshot · Opened 5 September 2026. The timing behind the first aid, for the teacher note rather than the slide: how long a knocked-out adult tooth can be out of the mouth, and why milk or the person's own spit buys time that a dry pocket does not. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/edt.12573 · doi:10.1111/edt.12573
  11. Home use of interdental cleaning devices, in addition to toothbrushing, for preventing and controlling periodontal diseases and dental caries · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, April 2019 · Opened 5 September 2026. Why cleaning between teeth is taught as reach rather than as proven cavity prevention: a brush cannot get between two teeth that touch, and no trial in the review measured decay between them. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012018.pub2/full · doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012018.pub2