Furry doctor delivers teeth lesson

Skye Mortensen (4) has a purple toothbrush and brushes her teeth twice a day. Sharn McGill (4) has a blue toothbrush and says he knows he cleans his teeth well, "I went to the dentist and he said I did a good job".

Skye and Sharn and their friends at Avon Kindergarten had some very special visitors last week when Dr Rabbit came to see them as well as his good friends Lois Harrop and Amelia Leong.

Lois, the dental therapy co-ordinator for Central and South Taranaki, and dental student Amelia, visited the youngsters to talk about the importance of caring for their teeth.

Dr Rabbit then visited the next day (after a delay due to a shortage of carrots) to give each child a special gift of a toothbrush and toothpaste.

As part of Avon Kindergarten's sustainablity programme they are supporting an initiative to collect used items such as tooth brushes (in a plastic bag please) tooth paste tubes, lids, floss packing and any plastic wrapping from oral care packaging.

The Stratford librarians have kindly agreed to have a collection box at the library and the other box is at Avon Kindergarten. Avon Kindergarten will be collecting items till the end of August and they hope to collect enough to be eligible for prizes.