Modern Hygienist - February 2009 - (Page 10)

open | NEWS A perfect pair How one small company convinced Cheerios to invest big in children’s oral health. by Carol Bommhardt Pediatric dental disease is America’s No. 1 chronic childhood illness, and preventive oral health care is crucial. Brushing is a must if children are going to maintain good oral health, but often it is difficult to enforce. Twenty years ago, David Carroll, RDH, founder of Preventive Dental Specialties (PDS), began to understand just how critical preventive dentistry was. “I was starting to notice, especially young children, would come into our dental practice and their teeth would be full of plaque and cavities, at such an early age,” Carroll says. He expressed his concerns to the patients’ parents, but after a few years of having the same types of conversations over and over, things were not getting any better. Many parents had the same story: their children would not let them brush their teeth. After researching children’s routines, Carroll identified the problem. During the day, if the child took his or her toothbrush the parents would immediately take it away. Why? Out of fear the child would fall with the toothbrush in his or her mouth and choke or be impaled. The toothbrush was only taken out right before bedtime, and the children were then expected to use an item they now viewed as dangerous. dren,” Carroll says of his product. The toothbrush is unmatched in its design—it has an oblong shape with a bar running through the center so little fingers can get a good grip on it. A child can begin using the product from as early as 3 months old, Carroll says. In 1992, the safety toothbrush was patented—the first of many for Carroll, who describes himself as having a passion for children’s dental health. Carroll is pleased with the success of his product, saying, “I’ve sold well over 10 million of them. We’ve helped establish positive oral hygiene habits that will last these young children for a lifetime.” As successful as these toothbrushes have been over the past 16 years, it is still not enough for Carroll. “Success to me is when every child has access to this product and we can make a difference in early intervention, preventive dental health and stop this decay pattern.” AIMING HIGH So how does a small company like PDS achieve this goal? The answer for Carroll was to partner with a well known company: General Mills, and one of its popular cereal brands, Cheerios. After several years of letter writing by Carroll and one of his sales reps, PDS finally got an audience with Cheerios and was able to sign a license agreement with them to use the well known name on the safety toothbrushes. “People will recognize the brand name and stores will be more apt to put that brand in the store as opposed to PDS. Not that our company isn’t significant, but it’s not Cheerios,” Carroll says. PDS also is working with the National Children’s Oral Health Foundation (NCOHF). With the purchase of any PDS product, a portion of the money will be given to NCOHF’s Tooth Fairy Campaign. The Safety Toothbrush® was designed to introduce brushing at the earliest possible age. The patented oblong circular shape makes it easy for infants to hold, and helps to alleviate the frustrations and fear of accidental over-insertion parents have when teaching their children to brush. Visit prevdentspec.com. PROBLEM SOLVED Taking matters into his own hands, Carroll invented his first safety toothbrush. “I believed that I could change the way we introduced tooth br ushing to young chil- LOOK FOR THEM Expect to see safety toothbrushes with Cheerios packaging in stores early this year. However, all PDS products are currently available for purchase and a portion of proceeds will still go to NCOHF, no matter where they are purchased. For more info on PDS, visit prevdentspec.com. mh tip Don’t just complain about gaps in quality care. Think of ways you can help create or become the solution. It might be risky, but it’s also rewarding. 10 modernhygienist.com | February 2009 PHOTO: SEAN LOCKE/GETTY IMAGES http://www.prevdentspec.com http://www.prevdentspec.com http://www.modernhygienist.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Modern Hygienist - February 2009

Modern Hygienist - February 2009 Contents Editor's Letter Letters News Modern Solutions Caring for Kids The DNA Difference A Healthy Perspective The Economic Impact on You How Single Moms Make it Work Ad Index Classified Economy 101

Modern Hygienist - February 2009

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