Friday, March 19, 2010

A quick autism related dental care update…

A bitch can’t remember if I posted about my concern over my brother’s teeth...

...so I’m posting about my concern over my brother’s teeth and our discovery of a solution.

Shall we?

As most of you know, my older brother is profoundly autistic. He’s rather hyper, so hygiene can be rushed. When it comes to brushing teeth, my brother hasn’t had the best track record...and that resulted in a bad check-up the last time he went to the dentist.

This bitch freaked out and began to have nightmares over the prospect of trying to teach Bill how to put dentures in.

Lawd, have mercy.

Anyhoo, after freaking out I went into problem solve mode…and asked some parents of younger children what they do to try to improve their kid’s brushing.

Behold, pre-brush dental rinses that temporarily stain teeth to show where a body needs to brush better!

I scored some from the Walgreen’s…blue with bubble-gum flavoring…and met with staff at my brother’s residential placement to go over a new brushing protocol.

Fast forward to this week and my brother’s latest dental check-up…and the dentist was thrilled.

Thrilled!

Dentists are hardly ever thrilled.

Our dentist said that this was one of the best check-ups ever and my brother’s teeth look great.

Happy, happy, happy and joy, joy, JOY!

Anyhoo, I just had to share and encourage folks facing similar situations to get your discussion on with colleagues and friends.

Sometimes the solution is as simple as a $4 bubble gum flavored rinse and some one-on-one time while brushing…

Blink.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I so admire you for the way you care so much for your brother. He is so lucky to have you!

(As an aside, I've always been tempted to get some of that stuff to make sure I'm brushing as thoroughly as I should!)

Maurice said...

The simple solutions are, indeed, often the best. Nice work.

Jess H said...

congrats for finding a solution! sometimes it really is the simplest fix that brings the best rewards.

Anonymous said...

Shark-fu, believe it or not, I think about the health and happiness of dear brother Bill quite a lot. :):) I do recall your concern over his dental issues, which are truly medical issues! I am so happy that you came up with a simple, ideal solution, and Bill's caregivers followed through. I hope you celebrated Bill's check-up with pizza and soda! (I know, I know! :)) Thanks for sharing-- I love updates on Bill.

Love, Laura

Neska said...

Congrats on such a tasty and successful solution.

I now work at a school with an Autism program. Your posts have helped me see what programs, services, hurdles, etc. children might have as adults. Thank you for sharing.

littlem said...

What haphazardmusings said.
All of it.
Especially the first part. :-)

Shannon Des Roches Rosa said...

Yes! For Bill's health, and for your peace of mind.

Margulies said...

That is so awesome! I remember doing something similar in e-school, but with tablets. Fabulous. I am now considering buying some for myself.

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