• Dweller6227@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      I forgot about them until this post. They were a thing dentists sometimes gave (in my experience) to help you tune your brushing technique. They would make areas you missed pink.

      • Etterra@discuss.online
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        6 days ago

        That’s nice, I wish I had those as a kid. Instead my mother would painfully wrench my mouth open and inspect it because she was a drunk asshole.

      • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        That actually is nice.

        Like all bathroom habits, we were taught them before we could really think of them as anything other than ritual.

        For me, reducing them to science when I was 10 or so would really help. Granted I have genetically perfect teeth (through no effort of my own), so they might not have given them to me.

  • hansolo@lemmy.today
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    7 days ago

    I can’t tell if I’m way older or way younger or way poorer than OP.

    I went to an elementary school with 15 kids in the whole school. We were all on well water so every other week we went to the kitchen and swished fluoride for a minute.

    But I have no idea WTF these pink things are. Y’all had toofsbrushes?

  • ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com
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    7 days ago

    I don’t recall them at school, but got them occasionally at the dentist to help learn to brush properly. Chew it and brush till all the pink was gone.

    Our local school actually has sponsored dental treatments if people don’t have their own so maybe it’s a thing now.

    • CTDummy@piefed.social
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      7 days ago

      Dental stuff. It stains the stuff that builds up on your teeth when you don’t brush (plaque), so you can see where you’re missing when brushing. Mostly given to kids who insist they’re brushing properly, right after they’ve brushed; to demonstrate they likely aren’t. You can get ‘em here too, but they’re usually given out in dental practices not schools.

      • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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        7 days ago

        We had an assembly where we got a kit that had like a toothbrush and travel toothpaste and floss in it that came with a couple of these. I think the idea was to make sure all the kids got at least some exposure to proper dental hygiene in case their parents weren’t doing it. You weren’t supposed to eat the tablet at school so everyone could see you didn’t brush though, I’m sure plenty of kids did anyway.

    • Cypher@aussie.zone
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      7 days ago

      I’m an Aussie as well and I only know about these because of a friend being a dentist. I’ve never seen them at any dentist’s office

  • AnyOldName3@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    They strained my actual teeth for a couple of days and led to years and years of overbrushing. These little bastards are not my friends.

  • IsaacscatNala@lemmy.ca
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    7 days ago

    I have some at home and I chewed one a week or two and they taste great (the dentist gave them to me)

  • Dr. Bob@lemmy.ca
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    7 days ago

    60 year old Canadian. I remember these as an occasional thing, like maybe during a dental promotion week? It wasn’t like it happened all the time.

    • Jiggle_Physics@quokk.au
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      7 days ago

      They did this once a year in every school I attended until I was in high school (military kid). I started high school in the mid 90s, and attended school in 4 different countries.