Imagine museum puts fun into children’s tooth care

Why do they need a whole tray of tools, anyway?

How can a person avoid getting cavities, and therefore, spend less time in a dentist’s chair?

These questions and more will be answered Saturday during “Tooth-Apolooza,” as Imagine Children’s Museum offers another of its fun-with-a-health-twist activity days, this time teaming up with local dental professionals.

“Since tooth decay is the Number One reason that kids miss school, the museum felt that this subject was critical for the health of children,” special projects coordinator Elizabeth Douglass said. “We also understand that parents may have a hard time getting their children to go to the dentist, but it’s easy to bring them to Imagine Children’s Museum. We are hoping parents and caregivers will take advantage of Tooth-Apolooza as a way to encourage children to take care of their teeth and see it as a fun activity, not as something they have to do.”

Saturday’s visitors can choose from activities like sitting in a real dentist’s chair, learning the purposes of different dental tools and participating in Imagine Children’s Museum Tooth Fairy TV broadcasts. The ICM Tooth Fairy will be conducting interviews throughout the day, and in the course of the interviews, children will be able to see themselves on an in-house monitor. The staff also hopes to upload some of the interviews onto the museum’s Web site.

Furthermore, for parents and caregivers, Snohomish County Health District employees will attend the event in order to share information on low-cost dental care options.

Eventgoers may also pick up a bit of cultural information, like what children in other countries do with their lost teeth. One example the staff provided involved the Korean tradition of children throwing their lost teeth onto the roof of their homes and saying, “Blackbird, blackbird, bring me a new tooth.”

The Saturday event follows a week in which museum volunteers brought Tooth-Apolooza to more than 6,000 students in their own classrooms. The volunteers were to visit 31 Snohomish County schools and read the book “Sweet Tooth” by Margie Palantini — the story of Stewart, a boy with an insatiable sweet tooth.