Toothless in Tokyo
Tokyo homeless get cleaner teeth thanks to one-woman campaign
TOKYO—A freelance TV presenter in Tokyo has started a campaign to give toothbrushes to homeless people. Chinami Murakami, 31, from the capital’s Setagaya Ward, runs a website (tokyo-homeless.com) on which she has introduced a “Hamigaki (toothbrushing) Project.” Customers who pay 500 yen for two toothbrushes cover the cost of two more toothbrushes, which are passed on to homeless people who have little or no access to dental care....more...
Hmmm, it’s a Toothless in Tokyo(tm) campaign.
Damn, I’d be willing to had out toothbrushes to majority of salarymen with death breath here.
Japanese had the strangest dental health—or the lack of it. Naturally, Japanese have twice the thickness of tooth enamal than westerners. In addition, Japan has socialized medicine which includes dental care. You would think that dental care would be great here. Yet most Japanese teeth are blighted by shabby fillings, over-reaching caps and bridgework and general malocclusion. Every foreigner has a tales of real dental horror. Basically, every Japanese dentist providing national health insurance care is in engaged in fraud—It always takes five denist appointments to complete a one or two appointment job since they are paid by the visit, not the procedure.
Bottom Line: In a way, the homeless would be better served by regular brushing than by Japan’s iatrogenic dental system that provides half-assed care.
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