The Value of a Smile (Hollywood Motion Picture Institute, 1940s)

Good dental health is stressed in the story of two grade-school children who must prepare a report on oral hygiene. They go to visit a children's dentist. The dentist is busy cleaning a girl's teeth, then showing her her yearly mouth X-rays. The female dental assistant shows the two students a book about teeth containing pictures of second teeth forming behind the deciduous teeth. The assistant takes the children to see an orthodontist where they are shown drawings and casts of teeth from birth to teenage. The orthodontist also shows them before and after photographs and mouth casts of orthodontia patients. The benefits of orthodontia are emphasized. The children have lunch with the dentist and the assistant. Good nutrition is stressed as vegetables, salad, fruit, milk, bread, and eggs are served. After lunch, they are given a demonstration by the assistant of proper toothbrushing. She uses a very large model of upper and lower teeth. The children work on their school report, the pages of which are shown. It is entitled Value of a smile.
Produced by the Hollywood Motion Picture Institute.
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