'Chompy the Carrot' charms children at Dental Health Day in Puyallup
ROB CARSON
If you can’t see the fun in flossing, chances are you’ve never encountered Ashley Zantkovsky in her carrot suit.
Zantkovsky, (aka Chompy the Carrot) was a huge hit at Saturday’s Children’s Dental Health Day at Puyallup’s South Hill Mall, where she mesmerized kids and parents alike with her footlong toothbrush, oversized tooth-and-gum model and, of course, her own perfect teeth.
“If you can have a big person help you brush and floss, that can be best,” Zantkovsky told 5-year-old Taylor Bender, who stared at her with wide eyes and open mouth.
“The more you brush and floss,” she said, “the better you get at it.”
Zantkovsky, who in real life is a Puyallup dental assistant with 17 years of experience, was one of more than 100 South Sound dental professionals and students who volunteered to staff this year’s Dental Health Day, sponsored by the Pierce County Dental Society. It was the event’s 20th anniversary.
The point, according to Cheryl Mina, executive director of the Dental Society, is to get people to “warm up to dentistry” and to let them know about the generous dental programs in Pierce County that make it possible for virtually any resident, regardless of income or insurance status, to get top-quality dental care.
“We know that people have the idea that dentistry is a painful thing to do,” Mina said. “We are trying to break this barrier.
“We try to make it friendly,” she said, “kid-friendly and family-friendly.”
Thanks in part to Chompy and her cohort, the Tooth Fairy, it seemed to be working.
Throughout the day Saturday, more than 300 children worked their way through the various booths, brushing up on the flossing technique, getting screened for cavities and opening wide for fluoride-varnish applications.
For those who qualified, a mobile dental van was parked outside, ready to do on-the-spot dental work.
Jordan Harris, a Willamette Dental Group dentist and the chairman of the annual event, said this year’s attendance lower than usual, which he attributed in part to the sunny day.
Also, he said, the families coming through tended to be people who already view dentistry as a priority, rather than those most in need of care.
Pierce County has a long list of dentists who offer their services for free to those in need, Harris said, plus organizations such as Community Health Care, the Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children and SeaMar Children’s Dental Clinic, which offer services on sliding scales, based on financial need.
“The care is available,” Harris said. “People aren’t using it.”
The struggle getting people to take advantage of dental services is partly due to the economy, said Jeff Reynolds, dental director at Community Health Care.
Language barriers also are a factor, he said, along with the mistaken notion that because kids will lose their baby teeth anyway, good dental care doesn’t matter for them.
“Too often, patients will wait until they’re hurting to come in,” Reynolds said.
Rob Carson: 253-597-8693
rob.carson@thenewstribune.com
