Molar Plaqsearch

I have vivid memories of a classroom experiment when I was in Mrs Johns' class in junior school (so I must have been 8) about tooth brushing. Four children were picked - one "brushed" her teeth with cold water and her finger, one ate an apple, one brushed his teeth without toothpaste and one brushed his teeth with toothpaste. Then they all chewed on a disclosing tablet. Everybody had a bright red mouth except for the one with toothpaste. Thne we all got given a tooth brush and tooth paste and headed off to the sinks to brush our teeth - especially those who had a mouthful of red to brush off !

When I was asked if I'd like to try out some PlaqSearch disclosing products, I was really keen to try out a similar experiment with the girls. If I still remember that classroom experiment all these years later, it will hopefully be just as memorable for them and instil some good dental hygiene values.

PlaqSearch do make disclosing tablets that you can chew but they also make Advanced Disclosing Buds and that's what we received to review. The little box contains twelve cotton buds, one end of which is filled with disclosing solution. You snap off the end with the blue ring, this allows the solution to flow down into the other end and you rub this end all over your teeth and gums.

Sophie gingerly rubbed some over her front teeth, grinned at herself in the mirror and asked if I was sure she was doing it right. Then asked if I was playing a joke on her ! I told her to carry on ...

... then fell on the floor laughing when her entire mouth - teeth, gums and lips - turned dark blue, just like she'd been sucking on the end of a leaky pen ! I read the instructions and you have to rinse your mouth to remove the excess. The disclosing solution differentiates between old plaque which has been missed by previous brushing which turns blue and newer plaque which turns red.

Sophie was really pleased to see that all the blue disappeared and there was just a very thin line of red around the top of her gums. You can't even see any at all in the final photo, which was taken using the built-in webcam on my laptop (still no solution for the digital camera problem !). It's really made her think about how she brushes her teeth and she proudly told me tonight that she brushed around the top of her gums too.

It's a really fun but educational way of teaching kids about proper toothbrushing, as well as a reassuring way to check that they are brushing their teeth thoroughly. Just one word of advice - they warn you on the box that it will stain clothing or furnishings so do supervise them when they are waving around the snapped cotton bud !

star rating : 5/5

RRP : Plaqsearch Tablets - 20 tablets £2.99, Plaqsearch Buds - 12 x buds £3.99

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