Meet your teeth

1.TitleMeet your teeth

In this lesson, we will learn about our teeth — their parts, their jobs, and why we need to look after them. This lesson prepares students before the Whole Bite Club visit.

2.QuestionWhat do we use our teeth for?

Ask the guiding question: What do we use our teeth for? Record student responses.

3.QuestionWhy do you think our teeth are important?

Guiding question. Follow the first question with this one and record the answers beside it, so the class builds its own reason for looking after teeth before the video.

4.VideoTeeth and the jobs they do

Short video introducing teeth and their jobs, listed in the guide's resources for this lesson. Play it once, then ask what students noticed.

5.SlideLook in the mirror

Invite students to use a mirror to look at their own teeth. Ask what they notice — different shapes, sizes and positions. Support: students use a mirror to look at their own teeth and count them with a partner.

6.SlideWhat our teeth do

Discuss the different jobs our teeth do: biting, tearing, chewing, and helping us to speak and smile.

7.PictureThree kinds of teeth

Point at each colour and name the job before the words go up.

8.SlideThree kinds of teeth

Introduce the main types of teeth using a printed mouth or teeth diagram: incisors (bite), canines (tear), and molars (grind). Have students feel the different shapes with a clean finger or their tongue.

9.GameTap a tooth

Tap any tooth on the big mouth and its group lights up, with the name and the job read aloud. Use it to check the three tooth types before moving on.

10.GameWhich tooth?

Children drag food cards onto the front, pointy or back teeth. Challenge: students match each type of tooth to the food job it does (biting, tearing, grinding). An apple can go to the front or the back — both are right.

11.SlideTwo sets of teeth

Explain that we grow two sets of teeth in our lifetime. Baby teeth come first, and adult teeth grow in to replace them as we get older. Ask who has lost a tooth, and discuss. Emphasise that baby teeth are important and still need to be cared for — they help us eat and speak, and hold space for the adult teeth.

12.QuestionDo you think teeth are living or not living?

Guiding question. Take a show of hands both ways, then explain that teeth are living parts of our body that do important jobs.

13.PictureParts of a tooth

Name the layers from the outside in before the words go up.

14.SlideParts of a tooth

Introduce the parts of a tooth (crown, root, gum) at a simple level. Explain that enamel is the hard outer layer that protects the tooth.

15.WorksheetMy teeth

Worksheet: My teeth. Students label the parts of a tooth and/or draw and count their own teeth. Support: provide a large tooth diagram and picture cards for students to match labels to parts.

16.RecapLook after your smile!

Review the key messages: teeth do important jobs; we grow two sets of teeth; and we need to look after them every day. Ask students to share one thing they already do to look after their teeth. Let students know the Oral Health Home team will visit soon for The Whole Bite Club — something to look forward to.