Hygienist’s message brings unusual visitor to Troy Dental Care Center

Nevi keeps a young patient company as Anbec DeShield, DDS, examines the boy’s teeth.

Regina Marsh (holding Nevi) and Gloria Alvarez welcome their unusual visitor to the Dental Care Center office.

Nevi visits with the clinical staff at the FirstHealth Dental Care Center-Troy. Pictured (from left) are Allison Thompson, dental assistant; Phyllis Briles, dental hygienist; Robin Allen, dental assistant; and Kate Lorette, dental assistant. Briles wrote the letter to dental instrument manufacturer Hu-Friedy that brought Nevi to Troy.

TROY – The visitor to the Dental Care Center-Troy looks like a cross between a sock puppet and a stuffed caterpillar, but he/she/it travels the U.S. bringing bright smiles to the sometimes anxious young faces in dental offices.

“Nevi” is a stuffed toy replica of a dental instrument – a stainless steel calculus scaler – of the same name. A current promotion by manufacturer Hu-Friedy sends the toy to dental offices throughout the country. A map on the Hu-Friedy website notes Nevi visits from California and Oregon to New England as well as Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky and various other states.

Phyllis Briles, a registered dental hygienist at FirstHealth’s Troy center, entered the contest, sharing why Nevi should come to Montgomery County, North Carolina, and then helped play host during the unusual visitor’s Aug. 4-8 stay.

“I explained that FirstHealth is a wonderful place to work and that we provide excellent care to underserved children in our area,” Briles said.

Following is the message Briles sent to Hu-Friedy:

Nevi, please come to visit us in North Carolina.  I would like to invite you to visit our children’s dental center in Troy, N.C.  We are a pediatric practice that serves medically indigent children in our area.  We have three centers, one in Southern Pines, one in Raeford, and one in Troy.  

In addition to providing GREAT dental care for our kids, we also mentor future dental professionals.  Our offices have students rotate through our offices as part of their clinical practice rotations.  We have students from local dental assisting and dental hygiene programs as well as from the UNC School of Dentistry.

Our patients are the greatest!  Several say they want to become a dental professional when they grow up.  I would love to provide one of our future colleagues with the kid’s dental instrument kit & clinician’s coat.

When you come to N.C., you will find a great dental practice with lots & lots of Southern hospitality.

In addition to the Nevi visit, the Troy center received a complimentary Nevi 4 scaler and a children’s dental instrument kit and clinician’s coat “to inspire the future dental professionals” who visit the office. The kit and coat will eventually go to a lucky Dental Care Center patient.

Hu-Friedy also donates $1,000 to a scholarship fund toward the continuing education of practicing dental clinicians in every state that Nevi visits.