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Southwest Dental Group offers a service for your child that we hope you never have to use.  A few dollars and a few minutes of chairtime is a small investment to make for the huge return of being able to assist authorities in tracking your missing child or making a positive identification.

 

Toothprints is an arch-shaped thermoplastic wafer that is softened in hot water and placed on your child's lower arch.  Your child bites into the wafer for 50 seconds in the same manner as a bite registration taken for prosthetics or orthodontics.  After allowing a 2-3 minute cool-down period in the plastic bag provided, you receive the Toothprints bite impression to take home for safekeeping.   Few children have fingerprints taken and the successful fight against tooth decay has left many children with no cavities and few dental records.  Toothprints provides a unique record that gives you greater peace of mind.

According to Peter Banks, Director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, when Toothprints is taken, sufficient proteins in the saliva remain on the wafer from which a DNA test can be successfully performed for yet a second means of identification from Toothprints.  He also states that, since the Toothprints wafer is sealed in a “zipper”-type plastic bag, enough scent remains for a trained dog to identify and track with it.

 

Contact us at one of our nine locations: Tempe Mesa Chandler Ahwatukee Scottsdale Peoria Surprise Laveen Tucson Specialists located at Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale, Peoria, Laveen, and Tucson