Toothbrushes being collected for kids on Cape

Feb. 26--HYANNIS -- When visiting school nurses' offices as part of an outreach program last fall, Judith Reppucci of Harbor Community Health Center was shocked to hear a child at Nathaniel H. Wixon Innovation School in Dennis say he'd been brushing his teeth with his fingers.

Even the small cost of toothbrushes can be an issue for some families, Reppucci said. Now she wants to make sure that every Cape schoolchild who needs a toothbrush gets one.

TOOTHBRUSH DROP-OFF POINTS

Among the locations where individually packaged, soft toothbrushes for children may be dropped off by March 7:

Yarmouth Police Department, 1 Brad Erickson Way off Higgins Crowell Road, West Yarmouth

Cotuit Library, 871 Main St.

Dennis Police Department, 90 Bob Crowell Road, South Dennis

Dennis Beach and Recreation Department, 485 Main St., South Dennis

Sea Crest Beach Hotel, 350 Quaker Road, North Falmouth

Harbor Community Health Center, 30 Elm Ave., Hyannis

Ellen Jones Community Dental Center, 351 Pleasant Lake Ave., Harwich

Harwich Chamber of Commerce, 1 School House Road, Harwich Port

Her goal is to collect 3,000 toothbrushes by March 7 to be distributed through school nurses, food pantries and nutrition programs.

"It's such an easy way to help them," said Reppucci, who is the marketing liaison for the nonprofit community health center.

Reppucci said she thought of all the toothbrushes being stored in Cape homes awaiting the arrival of forgetful summer guests.

"Let's get them out of closets and into the hands of children who need them," she said.

The public has responded, Reppucci said.

Dustin Pineau of the Dennis Beach and Recreation Department already has collected close to 1,000, Reppucci said.

"The Yarmouth police are bound and determined to beat that" by promoting the toothbrush drive on their department's Facebook page, she said.

Rogers & Gray Insurance, Delta Dental and Mid Cape Dental Lab also have donated scores of new toothbrushes, Reppucci said.

The toothbrushes will be distributed through school nurses, food pantries, the Women Infants & Children nutrition program and other services, mainly from Orleans to Sandwich, Reppucci said.

School nurses said they would distribute them on a case-by-case basis.

"We are seeing a lot of cavities in younger children," Pam Ciborowski, nursing and wellness coordinator for the Barnstable public schools, said.

Barnstable has a fluoride rinse program for third-graders, who need parental permission to participate.

An organization called Polish Dentists also visits the schools to provide free cleaning and sealant services, Ciborowski said.

"Cost is huge" for parents seeking dental care for their children, she said.

Wixon school nurse Kathy Downing said she hands toothbrushes out when children are sick, have bad breath or look as if they haven't brushed their teeth in a while.

What used to be a family bedtime ritual of brushing teeth has fallen by the wayside in families in which parents work multiple shifts and children have irregular bedtimes, Downing said.

While waiting in the school nurse's office at Wixon, Reppucci heard Downing plead with a store manager to let an employee come to the school to pick up a sick child.

He said he probably would have to dock her pay, Reppucci said. "I think there's so much on (the parents') plate this is one of the things that slips between the cracks," she said.

Reppucci said people may drop off soft and individually packaged children's toothbrushes by March 7 at locations including the Yarmouth Police Department, Cotuit Library, Dennis Police Department, Sea Crest Beach Hotel in Falmouth, Harbor Community Health Center in Hyannis, Ellen Jones Community Dental Center in Harwich and the Harwich Chamber of Commerce.

Reppucci said she plans to make the Great Brush Out Children's Toothbrush Drive an annual event.

"Whatever toothbrushes we get certainly will be utilized and distributed to children in need," Ciborowski said.

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