WHAT DENTIST FOUND STUCK IN THIS GIRL’S TEETH WAS BEYOND ANYONE’S IMAGINATION

 

Blaire McCarthy, a teen from Tampa Bay, Florida was ready to get a new look when she went to her dentist. What she didn’t know at that time was how a simple procedure was about to uncover the harmful thing she has been doing since the very beginning. An eye-opener! A sudden discovery makes Blaire and her family realize that the healthy habit she relied on just like all of us took her to a dental clinic. A normal thing became the reason for immense pain and suffering bringing it to everyone’s notice.

Health and hygiene, both are closely related as one somehow affects the other. What if something that you are doing since your childhood is questioned? The habit that seems to be healthy becomes a reason to cause you harm? Well, that’s exactly what happened with Blaire McCarthy.

Dentophobia

Fear of going to a dental clinic or fear of someone looking into your mouth with tools happens to many people. Mostly it happens with kids and with people who had a bad experience with dentists. According to many stats, even today more than 50% of the population rushes to the dentist only when in pain not for regular check-ups. In any case, Blaire never had any of it rather she used to be happy visiting the dentist every once a year for her regular check-ups hoping she would never have to face any dental issues. When she rushed to the dentist it was on to discover the unsettling truth.

A Teen’s Concern

Teenage is a phase full of mood swings that almost every adult would understand. The time when our bodies undergo several changes, teenage is the only age when we get most concerned about our looks. Blaire too was like other teens, concerned about her appearance and all. She was thinking to get a minor issue with her teeth fixed. Her teeth were not aligned together and she wanted to get it done. No one knew what seemed to be a usual visit to the dentist will turn out to be a big-time discovery. 

Daily Routines

Health concerns all of us, as a matter of fact, everyone tries to stay healthy in one way or the other. Yet the majority of us are unable to keep a grip on our diets. We know that very few people are able to get themselves going on with strict routines while most of us are indulged in at least one unhealthy habit every day. It could be sleeping late or not sleeping at all, having a lot of junk or skipping the meals, excessive intake of caffeine or not drinking enough water, smoking or stressing oneself way too much.

Even Blaire did miss on a few things daily but what she never compromised with one major habit of hers. She used to get regular check-ups with the dentist and she was planning on getting dental braces soon.

Healthy Habits

We can’t restrict some of our habits even after realizing that it ain’t healthy which is fine to some extent but we won’t deny that some habits stay with us since childhood. The most common of healthy habits are such as, taking regular baths, brushing teeth, washing hands before eating, cover our mouths if sneezing or coughing. It might have reminded you of your kindergarten days when these basic etiquettes were learned by heart. Blaire was always trying to stay healthy and active, but as far as her teeth are concerned she was way more alert about them.

All About Teeth

There’s a reason why so much emphasis has been put on the cleaning of teeth as it is not only about keeping our mouth healthy but also our whole body and it doesn’t require too much of efforts. How much time and energy does it take to brush and floss your teeth three times a day? hardly 15 minutes a day. Blaire was always concerned about her hygiene so much that her parents never have to remind her of brushing or flossing. It all started when she finally got braces to fix her teeth and get a perfect smile. 

Time To Get Them Off

For the next one year, Blaire followed the exact steps as the dentist instructed her. She visited the dentist for regular check-ups while her bristles were on and finally, the day came when the dentist told her that next week her bristles can be removed. At first, Blaire was nervous if she has to keep the bristles on for more than a year but as she took a note of dentist’s instructions, her teeth were in the desired position within a year’s time. She was happy with the idea that finally, she doesn’t have to get the dentist’s appointment every week. However, she didn’t know that she again have to rush to the clinic with a bigger concern.

New Straight Teeth

As decided, Blaire’s bristles were removed on her next visit. Her excitement was at its height as she was about to flaunt her perfect smile in front of her friends. Now she had no restrictions on eating her favorite dishes. This was like a perfect day for her and her parents were overwhelmed after seeing their daughter’s excitement about finally getting the braces off. Nobody knew these amazing moments were soon to change into something shocking.

The Pain Started

After Blaire got her braces removed for a week or so everything seemed fine. At first, she had a minor pain in her gums which was ignored assuming a normal thing to happen. Although it wasn’t just a normal pain it was obvious to take it as a common pain that usually occurs for a few days after removing the braces. But soon Blaire has to rush to the dentist because of it. The McCarthy family was about to encounter an unexpected situation.

Pain-Killers

When this unusual pain continued every other day for a week, Blaire took a few painkillers to get rid of it. Sadly, she had no clue that this was just the start of her troubles. Ignoring pain or taking it lightly could be very dangerous which Blaire will understand soon enough. Whatever it was, at that time it wasn’t bothering her too much. 

Something Stuck?

Blaire kept ignoring the pain until her mother noticed the weird part. They were into a general conversation at the dinner table when Sally was listening to her daughter’s ideas and point of views with attention, she noticed something that distracted her. It was so unlikely that it never happened before, there was something stuck in Blaire’s gums. Her mother thought it could be food but Blaire herself never misses on taking care of her oral hygiene. Then what was it?

Couldn’t Take It Out

Blaire went to the washroom and tried removing this thing. When she wasn’t able to remove it she tried brushing her teeth which didn’t work. Last option was floss, she gave it a try too but the thing was stuck and not moving. Blaire was now worried and at the same time realized one more important thing which might be related to this thing stuck in her gums.

Reason For All That Pain

When after all the attempts Blaire couldn’t get this thing removed, she could relate to the pain that she was suffering from quite a few days now. She was quite certain that it was because of this thing that it was hurting. What she was completely clueless about was the fact that even after doing everything she wasn’t able to remove it. Her mother, on the other hand, was worried too.

Mom Suggested

When Blaire walked out of the washroom, her mother was standing there to check on her. She told her mother that she was unable to get the thing off. She informed her that the pain in her mouth is most probably because of this thing only. She called and made an appointment with the dentist for the very next day. Even the dentist was stunned by what he found stuck in Blaire’s gums.

Time For A Visit

Sally made an appointment with their long trusted dentist, Dr. Larry Klein. Blaire sat in the dentist’s chair and waited for the dentist to arrive who reached. Once the dentist turned on the light and focused it on Blaire’s mouth, Sally showed him where is the object located. He saw the thing closely but couldn’t really say what it was. Dr. Klein has to take a closer view of it. Fortunately, he knew what is to be done next.

Get A Better Look

Dr. Klein recently invested in a high tech, state-of-the-art intraoral camera. This camera had features that would make it much easier for the dentist to take a close view of this object stuck in Blaire’s mouth. The device helps in finding the abnormalities and magnify them to diagnose the problem with more accuracy. The new tool proved to be a success as Dr. Klein finally reached to the bottom of this mystery.

Blue Object

After completing the inspection, Dr. Klein informed Sally and Blaire that it was something blue in color. Before the doc starts making assumptions related to this thing, he decided to confirm a few things with Blaire first. He asked her a couple of questions and finally got his answer that was about to be a shock to the health conscious Blaire.

Had Something Blue?

The first thing Dr. Klein wanted to be certain about was if Blaire had anything which was blue in color in the past few days. Blaire recalled but said she had nothing that will leave a blue color on her tooth. She said it could be a candy or sprinkled donuts. But this wasn’t the answer that the dentist was looking for.

Magnified More

While Blaire is a foodie person who goes on trying new dishes every now and then, she just couldn’t think of anything blue. Even Dr. Klein knew it was no food yet asked questions to keep Blaire a bit distracted from all the camera that was looking into her mouth. He magnified more on the blue object to be certain about his doubt.

Plastic Culprit

After 5 to 10 minutes, Dr. Klein could finally say that it was a piece of plastic. Plastic stuck in the mouth was still an understandable thing but what was unbelievable was how did it get there? When the doctors came up with their final explanation it was only to warn the world.

A Flashback

On the other side, Blaire was running a flashback of the past few days in her mind. She didn’t remember trying to open a plastic bag from her mouth. She thought it could be a possibility that she chewed on a pen cap for too long. Honestly, Blaire was just guessing she had no idea about how this piece of plastic got in her mouth.

A Question

Dr. Klein was giving it a deeper thought and was trying to think what could have happened and what was this piece of plastic. That’s the time when one possibility struck in his head. He rotated his chair towards, Sally and Blaire only to ask them a weird question…

What Brand?

Dr. Klein asked Blaire about the type of toothpaste she has been using. She found the question irrelevant as her toothpaste could have nothing to do with the blue plastic stuck in her gums. Yet, as she knew the answer she replied hoping at least now the dentist will tell her something she could understand.

Her Favorite

Blaire told the name of the toothpaste she has been using for years now, Crest 3D White. It is her all-time favorite toothpaste. So, now the time to hear the sad news was quite close and Blaire was in the shock of her life after hearing what Dr. Klein had to tell her.

The Answer

Dr. Klein started explaining to Blaire and her mother that this tiny piece of plastic stuck in her teeth was nothing but a small plastic bead from her toothpaste! Aren’t these crystal beads supposed to clean our mouth?? Then how can it be the cause of pain to Blaire? Well, this wasn’t something only Blaire was about to get concerned with but everyone using toothpaste with microbeads.

How Come?

These microbeads are made of polyethylene. The beads are not only in Blaire’s toothpaste but in most of the other Crest Pro-Health. As per, Dr. Klein these beads aren’t as dissolvable as we might have thought. And they can very easily get stuck in our teeth and stay there for much longer than anyone can imagine. Blaire and Sally were stunned and just couldn’t believe what they were listening.

Absolutely Shocked

Sally told in an interview that she was “surprised to hear that this was going on.” Even Blaire regretted about not knowing this beforehand. “Why haven’t we heard about this before, why are we just finding this out now?” She questions. They asked questions that will rise in anyone’s head. Although not all of their questions were answered a news channel were soon going to search for answers on behalf of all the people who needed answers.

Figuring Out The Truth

A local news channel, WFLA started got the news of what happened with Blaire. A team of reporters started investigating about the toothpaste with the help of an experiment. They out the toothpaste in a coffee filter and started hot water on it. After a few minutes also, the beads weren’t dissolved and were still in the filter. The journalist doubted that this might have happened to many people before and their guess was right!

Quite Often

The reporters went on interviewing various dentists in the Tampa Bay area, and they realized that this happens quite often. The dentists told that this is a common scene with their patients nowadays. “Over a period of time, you get bacteria that build up around it, it’d get inflamed. It could be potentially a problem,” explained Dr. Klein. But why are these beads even there?

Don’t Serve A Purpose

“It doesn’t help with the cleaning, it doesn’t help with the flavor. It’s just for decoration,” tells Dr. Klein. According to him, we should use brands that are without any microbeads. He was quite certain that these beads are just useless. And what about Blaire’s teeth?

Lucky Enough

Luckily, the bead was removed from Blaire’s teeth without too much pain. Blaire returned home with a lot of unexpected information that day. When the American Dental Association were informed and asked if something should be done about it they said: Not really.

Don’t Think It Matters

“At this time, clinically relevant dental health studies do not indicate that the seal should be removed from toothpaste that contains polyethylene microbeads,” suggests a statement released by the ADA. The association even rejected a request to remove the seal of approval of the beads. After all, that happened the brand’s parent company made a serious decision to maintain its rapport.

The Right Thing

The company that makes Crest toothpaste, P&G, was determined to resolve this issue, “We understand there is a growing preference for us to remove the ingredient. So we will.” They are targetting on removing the beads and have made a promise to their buyers that they’ll not be selling any product with beads in it.