Dirty Teeth Experiment Booklet

This is a 4 page booklet designed around a lesson about keeping teeth clean. Students will make a statement about what will happen to teeth when we don't clean them, and will write a question about the experiment. Then students will each take an egg and coat it with a mixture of crushed cereal and milk or water. The mixture needs to be quite sticky so that it creates a coating on the egg shell. The crushed cereal mixture is to simulate "chewed food" while the egg represents a tooth. Once the egg is coated, students place the egg in a cup or bowl and leave it to dry. This may take about 3-5 days depending on the room temperature, so it is best to start this experiment at the beginning of the week.
On the final day, students examine their eggs, and feel what happened to the food (it should have solidified). They then take a toothbrush and try to brush as much of the food off as possible. This should be quite challenging and may require excess force. If some students are too rough, the egg will break, which can simulate tooth decay in real life.
Students then complete the rest of the experiment booklet.