The Doctor's BrushPicks

Dental hygiene has been important to me for a long time, probably because I had a mouth full of rotten teeth as a kid. Back then, I used to steal money from my mother's purse, typically $20 at a time, and then I'd go to my neighborhood convenience store or grocery store, and I'd spend the whole shebang on candy. $20 doesn't buy much today, but in the late 1970s, it bought about 1/3 of a paper grocery bag worth of candy bars and hard candies, or about 1/2 when I bought bulk candy from my nearby Alpha Beta. If my mom didn't have that much money to steal, I'd take less and buy powdered sugar. If you fill a baggie with powdered sugar, you can nibble off a corner and suck the sugar out slowly for hours.

Needless to say, a woman who doesn't notice $20 missing from her wallet also wasn't much of a stickler for enforcing her child's dental hygiene regimen. Consequently, I had cavities and fillings aplenty. When my adult molars started coming in, I decided that I had had enough of both and decided to take better care of my teeth. I took up regular brushing and flossing. I have not been a big eater of sweets ever since.

I have experimented with many oral hygiene products over the years, including a half-dozen or more varieties of dental picks. While dental picks are not as effective as floss (contrary to the claims made by The Doctor's BrushPicks), they are far more convenient and can be carried and discretely used outside the home. Trust me: People will look at you funny if you whip out dental floss after a Father's Day meal at the local steakhouse. And forget about slipping sugar packets between your teeth; you will run afoul of your wife, if she catches you.

The problem with most dental picks and all regular toothpicks (read: logs) is that the tip is not skinny enough to fit between my teeth. Granted my teeth are pretty tight, as I have never had braces or corrective dental work. However, my teeth are not so tight that they are wandering all over my mouth. About a year or so ago, I took a chance on yet another variety of pick, and I have been a convert ever since.

The scale is impossible to tell from the above photo, but The Doctor's BrushPick is the same length as a regular toothpick (a little over 2.5 inches). I zoomed in pretty close so you could see the bristles on the left end, which in a more regular scale, looks about the same as a cricket's hind leg. The right side comes to a fairly sharp but flexible tip, and has a series of perpendicular lines that form a semi-abrasive texture, which also didn't show up well in the photo.

The BrushPick does what a good toothpick ought to: it removes things that are stuck between your teeth. The brush tip is highly flexible and won't irritate your gums much, especially after a couple days of use. The shaft of the brush is narrow enough to fit between even my tight teeth with no problems. The pointed end also functions well for the same or other gum-poking applications.

According to the literature on the back of the package, The Doctor's BrushPick has seven unique features (illustrated above) that make it a superior instrument of dental hygiene. Points 2 and 3 seem redundant, and points 5 and 6 seem a bit dubious as individual selling points, but OK, I can accept the creative marketing. The Doctor's pick truly is a superior product, and one that I wholeheartedly endorse.

I haven't seen the BrushPick on sale at my local grocery stores (Fry's and Safeway), but I know they are available at Walgreens. They retail for $2.99 for a package that includes two individual boxes of 60 picks. For the math impaired, that's $2.99 for 120 picks, which is pretty cheap on a per-pick average. Well worth the money in my humble opinion.

Websites: The Doctor's BrushPicks, Walgreens