A Personal Story with a Sweet Ending

As a child, I remember my mother driving me on numerous trips to the dental clinics at the university. There, I got my teeth cavities drilled, had the decayed portions removed and had them replaced with embarrassingly bright silver fillings. By the time I was 12 years old, more than half of my 28 teeth shined like silver mine. After enduring the pain of drilling my decayed teeth and the stigma of having a mouth full of cavities stay with me, I resolved to take good care of my children’s dental health.

Like Mother Like Daughter
Imagine my shock when years later, as a mother of a 15-month old girl, I noticed white spots on her molars! When I brought her in for a check-up at a dentist’s office, I sat and listened to how my child’s newly developed molars were showing early signs of tooth decay.
My daughter, Leyna, had a sweet tooth. She loved and only wants to drink juice. During late night milk feeds, I tried to clean her teeth after she drank the milk, but ended up getting bitten! Like many other children, Leyna hated to brush her teeth. In fact, she used to scream and clamp her mouth shut, making it extremely difficult for me to clean her teeth properly. As a working mom, I was exhausted at having to deal with her tantrums when trying to brush her teeth, so I set about finding an alternative fun solution to this problem.

What I Discovered About Dental Products for Children
I found various types of dental products for children at the grocery store, most of which contained Flouride, Xylitol, Lactobacillus and a new finding of Mutan Control Antigen, all of which claimed to promote oral health. When I tried the different packages and did in-depth research on each of the ingredients, I discovered the following:
1. Flouride is a toxin that is not intended to be swallowed, especially by young toddlers. It works when applied to tooth surfaces, but has no effect and may be harmful when swallowed.
2. Xylitol is a well-known natural sweetener which can not be metabolized by bacteria and helps neutralize acidic oral condition. However, taking too much of it can cause loose stool or gastric stomach problems (the recommended daily consumption is dependent on individual body weight).
3. Lactobacillus is evidently beneficial to restore the normal balance of intestinal bacteria, though some studies show that it may contribute to acid formation leading to cavity development.
4. Mutan Control Antigen is derived naturally from chicken egg yolk which carry natural immunoglobulin specifically for S. Mutan bacteria, blocking its enzyme from producing sticky substances to bind themselves tightly to tooth surfaces.
Necessity Was This Mother’s Invention
After learning all of this, I decided to create a new product that would satisfy the needs of a Mom like myself to effectively combine Xylitol and the natural chicken igY (immunoglobulin) to specifically fight cavity-causing S. Mutan bacteria most naturally. The goal was to provide the best solution for protecting children’s teeth naturally. I also included Calcium and Vitamin D to strengthen teeth and bone, and packaged these ingredients in a small, hard, but chewable candy form.

The Oralcryst Junior Candy prototype was round with a hole in the middle to prevent choking. My daughter was the first to try it and was the one who approved the final taste of the candy after many trials. She always looked forward to receiving the sweet treat after brushing her teeth. Since then, our oral care routine now always ends with her big sparkly smile.

The Results? Something We Can All Smile About
At her next regular dental check about a year later, her teeth were pronounced in excellent shape. Now, Leyna is almost three, and she still looks forward to enjoying her teeth treat after brushing (still not a big fan of brushing), and her most recent dental check was again pronounced in excellent shape. Finally, when I learned that many children in the U.S. suffer from early cavities, from a mother’s point of view, I resolved to continue to help promote every child’s optimum oral health.