Nine-Year-Old Michigan Girl Founds Oral-Health Conscious Sucker Company

The Washington Post reports that a 9-year-old Michigan girl has created a sugar-free sucker “designed to help improve mouth health” called Zollipops. The suckers “use a natural sweetener called xylitol” to “restore the mouth’s pH — a measure of acidity — to a neutral level,” which “helps prevent tooth decay and cavities.” In designing the suckers the girl and her father meet with dentists in order to learn the science of oral health and “spent hours testing different ingredients and packaging before they came up with a product ready for shelves.” The company will also donate 10 percent of its profits to oral health education, and the 9-year-old founded 100,000 Smiles, an effort to teach kids about preventing tooth decay, donating 100,000 Zollipops in the process.