There was told a legend about a woman filled with great kindness. As she was on her travels she happened upon a beautiful and valuable stone, in a flowing creek bed. She reached into the water, recognized it to be a precious stone, so she placed it in the sack holding her food. 

Later, she came upon another traveler who was hungry. She stopped to help him, opening her food sack to share with him her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone, realizing its value, he asked if she would give him the stone instead of the food. 

And, so it was, she gave him the stone. As he rushed off to prosper from this fantastic opportunity, his mind drifted to all the wealth and abundance that awaited him. But, not too far from the kind woman, he came to his senses and quickly returned to her. 

Upon seeing her he began rejoicing and shouting greetings to her. As he came closer he told her that he wanted to return the precious stone and ask her for something of even greater value. He asked her how it was possible for her to be so kind as to give him the precious stone which he   had realized that had known held great value. What was the secret to her great kindness? 

What truly hold value can often be missed. 

We at Dr Teresa Wade’s dental office know the greatest value for us is the love and friendships we share with the people we care for as patients. It’s our great honor to provide the dental care for keeping you healthy.  

Today we had the good fortune to learn about chewable toothbrushes! Surprised? 

Yes, now, brushing has a totally new assortment can be classical, electrical, or chewable toothbrushes! 

A research article published in BMC Oral Health, 2019:19 (58) reported on these instruments of oral health; the study evaluated chewable toothbrush versus a conventional brush in the students' population.

Three hundred forty-six (346) kids, in the research, responded to an e-questionnaire for "smart" phones. These reports were completed by the students outside of the dental office environment. Two groups were formed with the first-half serving as the control group using conventional toothbrushes and the experimental kids used the chewable toothbrush. 

The kids were all evaluated using a standardized plaque index to measure the teeth cleaning effectiveness. Before brushing teeth, the average dental plaque TQHI value for chewable toothbrushes is 2.8 ± 0.3, and conventional toothbrushes is 2.7 ± 0.3, which is not a statistically significant difference. That meant the teeth were about the same amount dirty.  

After brushing the teeth, the average dental plaque TQHI plaque value for chewable toothbrushes is 2.0 ± 0.1, and conventionaltoothbrushes was 2.0 ± 0.3, which is also not statistically significant. 

This means the great news was the kids can use those chewable brushes when they don’t have their conventional toothbrush and they can be just as effective in cleaning their teeth. 

I (Dr Wade) hope you’ve learned a bit about the chewable toothbrushes, and that you come see us really soon at Teresa WadeDDS-Family Dentistry  612 Hospital Drive Andrews, TX.

We would love to hear from you, please call today to make an appointment (432) 523-7782  or visit us online. 

And don't forget to to smile, it brightens everyone’s day. 

This article was written by Dr Teresa Wade, for her dental practice and the narrative or photos cannot be reproduced without her written consent.  

Edited by Dr Teresa Wade