This is absolutely essential. So many adults that I know brush their teeth wrong.

1. No, don't brush your teeth too hard. Your teeth aren't supposed to be whitey-white-white. Brushing teeth too hard will cause enamel loss. That's stuff that u can't get back once lost completely.
2. No, don't wash your mouth with water after brushing for at least 10 minutes. In a nutshell, fluoride keeps you from getting cavities. But it needs to be present in your saliva for your teeth to use it for remineralisation. Of course, don't use too much toothpaste or you might poison yourself.

the number one reason for young children being admitted to hospital is to extract rotten teeth

that's sad. A kid's smile is a huge part of their identity. Rotten teeth are fairly simple to prevent for many children. I support giving children a free toothbrush, maybe some toothpaste, teaching them healthy brushing habits. It's hard to comprehend someone claiming teaching dental hygiene is nanny state.

I hope your bathrooms are cleaner then they were when I was in public school. You couldn’t pay me to brush my teeth in one of those germ infested cesspits.

Nanny state? I would pay extra for this.

Bring it on. Help me teach my kids to brush their teeth. Let's Seasame Street this thing.

This was a thing or is still in Swiss, once every 4~weeks with the Stuff that makes a Layer. Makes sense to encourage this to Kids, can lead to Bad Infections later in Life.

We had to do this in Colorado public schools in the late 80s.

30 years later I’ve got a mouth full of false teeth.

Not sure it worked out like they wanted it to.

My wife - who is only just thirty - had her remaining teeth removed in the last year or so. She’s an outlier because critical meds in childhood caused serious problems, but…

Like anything else, it’s much easier - and by the by less expensive - to treat early. She absolutely stands by her choice, and after watching her in constant pain over a number of years, I don’t blame her.

All the education in the world wouldn’t have helped her personally, given the cause, but it will damned sure help many others who just don’t understand the gravity of it at a young age.

I’m American, grew up solidly middle class and with dental care. Current me would have benefited from this sort of nudge, even if only because I would have figured out sooner just how damned important it is.

As they say "You can lead a horse to water but you can't force it to drink." The biggest factor is the behavior at home and the parents.

Last I checked, this was common in West Virginia primary schools.

I once went to Costa Rica on a business trip, and every one of my colleagues there would head to the bathroom after lunch and brush their teeth. That's what you get when you teach dental hygiene.

Taking bets on how long before he flops on this.