Brushing teeth after lunch

I don’t imagine there are many countries where primary schools consider it an inappropriate behaviour not to brush your teeth after lunch at school. But it was so in my school in Japan. You get a “tooth brushing card”. After you brush your teeth after lunch, you tick the box for that day, and you are good.

Dentists would come and visit the school once in a while, and teach us the correct way to brush our teeth. I remember being told that the toothbrush we use should be similar to the size of a tooth (i.e. a lot smaller than the toothbrushes that we usually see). Then we pupils would queue to get our teeth checked by dentists, and obviously, nobody jumps the queue. Those with healthy teeth would get a “healthy teeth certificate” which says “Congratulations! You don’t need any fillings and have healthy teeth. Please continue to brush your teeth properly.” It’s probably not the kind of certificate that you would choose to frame and hang in your room, but I seem to remember having kept it for quite a few years, together with all the other certificates.