Dental hygiene is extremely important, especially when you’re younger. I mean, who wants to spend the already most awkward years of your life with braces as well? Unfortunatley for children in low-income families, brushing their teeth every day might not be the most important task on their minds.

UCSB alumna Christina Ramirez aims to change that. She recently founded the nonprofit organization One Brush, which strives to supply low-income children with the proper tools for maintaining oral hygiene.

Taking a lesson from TOMS shoes, for every toothbrush they sell, a toothbrush and a lesson in oral hygiene will go to a child in need, beginning with children in Latin America. The marketed toothbrushes are biodegradable, made of bamboo and packaged in artistically designed bags that will be sold for about $5 each on college campuses.

Ramirez told the Daily Nexus that she and several dentists traveled to Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala to establish a relationship with various communities and schools after she created the nonprofit during her senior year at UCSB in 2006 for a global studies writing class project.

“I realized this thing had legs and just decided to go for it,” Ramirez said. “I decided to develop it seriously in 2010.”

This month, Ramirez will go to the Magic Fair Fashion Trade Show in Las Vegas to connect with artists who will design the toothbrush packaging, she said.

“Every couple months, One Brush is going to come up with a new bag collection,” Ramirez said. “The bags will be designed by artists, musicians, designers, creative thinkers — people who really have a case-making ability.”

In time Ramirez hopes to spread the program to other regions of Latin America and eventually reach Asia.