New oral hygiene instruction "Treat Your Mouth" predicted to prevent oral disease in children

Dr Garth D Pettit is a second-time retired dentist. Instead of the golf courses he chose to follow his passion to be a full time oral healthcare educator to help children to prevent oral disease. He passionately believes he knows how to prevent oral disease in children. The 'secret' weapon he believes he has in his armory to prevent oral disease in children is his new oral hygiene instruction 'Treat Your Mouth'. 'Brush Your Teeth', he claims in his recently launched web blog site 'Prevent Oral Disease in Children', is flawed and even contributes to oral disease in children. He believes 'The Colgate-Palmolive and American Dental Association October 1, 2004 Launch of 'Save The World from Cavities' Campaign to Prevent Tooth Decay in Children' will also fail in it's objective if it too has been based on the oral hygiene instruction 'Brush Your Teeth'.

From 1997 to 2002, Dr Pettit was responsible for the annual screening (recording decayed, missing and filled teeth) at several remote community schools. Rampant tooth decay was the norm for most children in all schools. One school was regularly different. In this school there was a dramatic reduction in the incidence of children's oral disease but only in the children in two particular classrooms. The two teachers of these classrooms provided their students with a wholesome breakfast each morning. Following breakfast each student was given a tooth brush on which the teachers placed some tooth paste. The teachers then instructed the children to 'brush your teeth and rinse and rinse your brush under the tap'. Then the first lesson of the day began.

Dr Pettit recalled that Aboriginal people take instructions literally. The children interpreted the instruction 'brush your teeth and rinse and rinse your brush under the tap' as meaning two, not three, instructions; first 'brush your teeth', next 'and rinse and rinse your brush under the tap'. Children did not 'brush your teeth', then 'and rinse (your mouth)', then 'and rinse your brush under the tap'. By not rinsing their mouths they left a coating of toothpaste ingredients on every surface in their mouths. The ingredients in the toothpaste were doing as intended; killing bacteria, preventing decay, preventing gum disease and bad breath. Had they rinsed their mouths with water, the dramatic reduction in their oral disease would not have occurred.

Dr Pettit concluded the oral hygiene instruction 'Brush Your Teeth' was flawed, could be a cause of oral disease and there was need for a new oral hygiene instruction for children to prevent oral disease. Even the words 'brush' and 'teeth' are unsuitable in a 21st Century oral hygiene instruction for children. He created the following truly 'oral' hygiene instruction, included the word 'treat' to imply clean then apply, and named it 'Treat Your Mouth":

·Firstly, treat surfaces of teeth, then gums, then tongue, to clean away plaque and debris. Then thoroughly rinse the mouth with water. Then spit out the debris.

·Secondly, treat all surfaces a second time to apply the paste. Then swish the foam thoroughly around the mouth. Then spit out excess foam. NOTE: no rinsing with water.

·Finally, rinse the bristles under the tap.

Dr Pettit believes the terms 'tooth brush' and 'tooth paste', should be banished along with "Brush Your Teeth". Throughout the extensive array of MouthWise oral healthcare education resources developed by Dr Pettit for children, their parents and their teachers, Dr Pettit's main educational theme is to instruct children to "Treat Your Mouth" with a mouth treater and mouth paste to prevent oral disease.

Dr Pettit believes the ideal oral hygiene instruction to give children to prevent oral disease is 'Treat Your Mouth' with mouth paste and a mouth treater. "Treat Your Mouth" was created following 5 years observing children misinterpreting an oral hygiene instruction but dramatically preventing oral disease. 'Treat Your Mouth" will prevent oral disease in all age groups, not just children's. Dr Pettit believes the current children's oral disease crisis in countries across the world will not be resolved if children continue to be instructed to 'Brush Your Teeth' to prevent oral disease. 'Brush Your Teeth' is a flawed oral hygiene instruction and contributes to oral disease in children and in adults.

For additional information, contact Garth Pettit at [email protected]