(photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Jason Turner) Three-year-old Morgan examines her mother’s teeth with a dental mirror after finishing her appointment.

NNMC and the American Dental Association (ADA) is recognizing this annual event to promote the importance of dental health and encourage parents to teach children the value of good oral hygiene.

Events taking place in the Oral Surgery department will include face painting, games, and storytime to help teach children proper oral hygiene habits.

‘‘If you have fear [early in life] and don’t go to the dentist you can have problems later,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (SW⁄AW) Marcel Brandy, leading petty officer for hospital dentistry. ‘‘If you start taking your children to the dentist and brushing now, you will build a foundation for the future.”

Brandy is teaching his 3-year-old daughter why it is important to brush her teeth.

‘‘Starting kids brushing early is very important,” Brandy said. ‘‘It’s early hygiene and a stepping stone for life.”

This observance brings dentists together to promote good health care and instruct children, parents, and others with the knowledge of good oral health.

Dr. Elizabeth Shin, a pediatric dentist at NNMC, said the bacterium that causes tooth decay can come as soon as children have teeth.

‘‘[Dental decay] is one of the biggest diseases that can be prevented,” Shin said. ‘‘A lot of children lose time and have problems in school because they have dental decay.”

Proper oral hygiene is something Shin believes in not only because she is a dentist but because she is also a mother.

‘‘I was a dentist first then I became a mother and I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know about children’s baby teeth,” Shin said. ‘‘I realized [children’s dental health] is a very complex situation.”

‘‘We struggle brushing [children] teeth and as a parent we wonder if it’s really necessary to fight that fight sometimes...but as a parent there are things you can do to prevent children’s cavities,” she said.

Getting children to understand what tooth decay, also called dental caries, sometime needs to be explained differently to a child.

‘‘Instead of saying cavities and caries, we say ‘you don’t want to have sugar bugs because you don’t want to have ouch’s and pain,’” said Joshua Taylor, surgical coordinator and surgery technician for Dr. Shin. ‘‘Using terms like these make kids more understanding of what we’re saying.”

Shin tells parents consistency is the most important aspect of oral hygiene.

‘‘It’s an accumulative affect and it really promotes good oral hygiene,” she said. ‘‘It also embeds in your children that this is something they need to do every day.”