The Cost of a Forgotten Toothbrush: How Parental Neglect is Stealing Smiles Across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao
Severity:
Teeth Problems:
(The story opens in a small sari-sari store in a barangay in Visayas. The air is hot and thick.)
Eduardo, or "Eddie" to his friends, was a bright 10-year-old boy from a loving but overwhelmed family in Iloilo. His parents, Mang Luis and Aling Maria, worked dawn to dusk—Luis on a neighbor's fishing boat, Maria taking in laundry. Love was abundant, but time and energy were not. The family's daily rhythm had no slot for "brush teeth." The toothbrushes bought during the last school supply drive sat hardened and dusty on the shared bathroom shelf.
