After coming first overall at her school last term, Kaponga Primary School student Kristy Smith has had the pleasure of winning two prizes at the Fonterra Taranaki Science and Technology Fair for her scientific investigation "Traumatised Teeth".
Kristy received the Taranaki Medlab prize for the Best Project in Human Biology/Health and also came second equal for year 8.
The investigation saw Kristy test old cows' teeth (taken from skulls she had found lying around at home) to see which drinks caused the most damage on the teeth and what toothpaste was most effective. "My Dad and I wanted to see if Fluoride toothpaste actually made a difference," says Kristy. She concluded, however, that there isn't a real difference between cleaning products.
For the experiment the teeth were weighed to identify how much decay had occurred as well as staining on the teeth after sitting in different drinks for three weeks. Overall, the investigation took about a month to complete.
Kristy's teacher Rachael Gibbons says the school is extremely proud of Kristy. "It's good to see her hard work paid off."
