Perspective

Looking Through the Lens of Love

The unwanted circumstance that you are experiencing is the very circumstance that all that you could ever wish for is found in - whether that be intimacy with another, knowing beyond belief, ease and flow or freedom.

By: Dare to be Remarkable

You will only be able to see this however if your move your viewing point from being within the circumstance to standing above it and look at it through the intuitive lens of love.....because everything is ultimately love.

Fun Dental Facts

TERRIFIC TOOTH TRIVIA

Bet you didn’t know that the soreness you feel when you burn your mouth on mozzarella cheese has a name – pizza palette.

Or that only the common cold beats tooth decay as the most prevalent disease in the United States – even though a third of us make it all the way to the age of 17 without ever getting a cavity.

Or that your teeth are as unique as your fingerprints. In fact, even identical twins have different “dental fingerprints!”

In fact, there’s probably all kinds of things you didn’t know about your most important orifice – your mouth.

Read on for more rocking trivia that’ll stump even your most Cliff Clavin-like friends.

Q. Guess who worked as a silversmith, a copper plate engraver, a dentist, and still found time to warn the countryside when the Brits were coming?

Paul Revere

     A. Paul Revere

Q. And who do you suppose daydreamed of the westerns he would someday write while cleaning an unlucky patient’s teeth?

Zane Grey

     A. Zane Grey

Q. What fearless female shattered the fluoride ceiling when she received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1866?

1st Female Dentist

     A. Lucy Hobbs Taylor

Q. What famous artist depicted his stone-faced dentist as a farmer in “American Gothic”?

Grant Wood- American Gothic Painter

     A. Grant Wood

Actress Jill St Jo

Actress Jill St. John

Q. Which celebrities have donned braces to make their smiles even more glamorous after achieving stardom?

Diana Ross

Carol Burnett

Cher

Jack Klugman

     A. If you guessed Diana Ross, Carol Burnett, Cher, Jill St. John or Jack Klugman, you’re right!

Athletic Mouth guard

Q. How many athletes avoid dental tragedy each year by covering their pearly whites with mouth guards?

     A. 200,000

Yummy Cheese!

Q. What delectable dairy delights should you chomp on to keep your smile sparkling white?

     A. Cheese! Specifically,( Aged Cheddar, Swiss or Monterey Jack)

Q. Which Michigan city was the first in the United States to protect its citizens’ teeth by fluoridating the water?

Grand Rapids

     A. Grand Rapids

Body Modification: Tongue Piercing or Tongue Splitting?

Tongue Piercing and Tongue Splitting

Overview

Tongue-splitting is a type of body modification in which your tongue is split into two pieces, creating a "forked" appearance. Tongue-splitting can interfere with your speech, chewing or swallowing. That may seem like a mere inconvenience until you consider that tongue-splitting may also cause: 

• Infection, pain and swelling
• Increased saliva flow
• Nerve damage
• Numbness
• Loss of taste
• Difficulty speaking

These harmful effects can happen during the tongue-splitting, soon after, or even long after the procedure.  An infection can quickly become life threatening if it’s not treated promptly. Tongue-splitting carries a potential risk of endocarditis, an inflammation of the heart valves or tissues. Bacteria can enter the bloodstream through the tongue-splitting site in the mouth and travel to the heart and cause problems. This is a risk for people with heart conditions and, in the worst of cases, may result in death.
After a tongue-splitting, the tongue may swell. There have been reports of swelling serious enough to block the airway. And it’s very possible to puncture a nerve during tongue-splitting. If this happens, you may experience a numb tongue, which is a sign of nerve damage. The injured nerve may affect your sense of taste, or how you move your mouth. And damage to the tongue’s blood vessels can cause serious blood loss.

Tongue-splitting will be an added responsibility to your life, requiring constant attention and upkeep. Talk to your dentist for more information.

Keruig Brewing Machine

Keurig (Platinum) Brewing System

Just bought a Keruig Brewing System  (www.keruig.com )for my reception room (www.drkathie.net).  What a hit w/ my patients.  Some are even arriving early to relax & have a hot cup of coffee,tea,chocolate or even apple cider (my favorite!). What a wonderful product.

Thank Fluoride

Florida Dental Association

“Dental exam went well? Thank Fluoride” – http://nyti.ms/wVeQhq

Dental Exam Went Well? Thank Fluoride

well.blogs.nytimes.com

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls fluoridation one of the 10 most valuable public health measures of the 20th century.

Antioxidants for Periodontal Disease

Emerging indications: antioxidants for periodontal disease

Jan 19, 2012

By Edward P. Allen, DDS, PhD
Since approximately 10 to 15 percent of adults worldwide suffer from periodontitis at one time or another , oral health professionals are constantly challenged with treating patients for existing conditions and helping them prevent future occurrences. Root planing, scaling, and in severe cases, surgical intervention are part of the standard treatment for periodontitis, and antibiotics are used for infection control.
However, in recent years, dental health professionals have honed in on the inflammation that accompanies periodontitis. Research shows that inflammation in the oral tissues—especially that associated with periodontitis—can be a factor in chronic illness such as heart and vascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, pregnancy complications, and a growing list of other conditions.
The real culprit with inflammation is oxidative stress, a distce in the balance of oxidants and antioxidants. Oxidative stress is the result of overproduction of free radicals, unstable molecules that attack tissue cells by “stealing” electrons from other urban molecules.

Although infection is a major trigger for inflammation and oxidative stress, there are numerous other causes, such as poor diet, alcohol consumption and nicotine use or chemical pollutants. In oral tissues oxidative stress can result from dental procedures and from materials used for bleaching, composite fillings, implants, crowns, veneers, and so on.

Antibiotics control the micro-organisms that contribute to periodontitis and other infection, but they do not necessarily address the free radicals and oxidative stress that accompany inflammation.

Innate defense through natural salivary antibiotics and antioxidants

The human body has an innate defense system that combats oral inflammation: saliva. Saliva contains natural antibacterial compounds that defend against bacteria and other micro-organisms. Saliva also contains natural antioxidants that have been shown to neutralize free radicals contributing to oxidative stress and inflammation.

Several recent scientific articles have explored salivary antioxidants and their role in oral health, including periodontal disease, OLP, and even cancer. There is a growing consensus that administration of local therapeutic agents (i.e., antioxidants) to the oral cavity should be considered.

Topical antioxidants for inflammation control

Many dental health professionals have begun to augment the natural salivary antioxidants with topical application of antioxidants. A suite of products, AO ProVantage, from Dallas-based PerioSciences, LLC (www.periosciences.com), contain antioxidants, including phloretin and ferulic acid, that are applied directly to the gums. The products are distributed through professional dental offices and are best used as part of a comprehensive oral hygiene program.

In the early 1990s, compounds of phloretin and ferulic acid were clinically proven to counteract free radicals that caused damage in skin cells. More recently, scientists at Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry have shown that specific concentrations and combinations of phloretin and ferulic acid are highly effective at neutralizing free radicals in oral cells that are caused by nicotine, alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide—some of the most common toxins introduced to the oral cavity. Additional studies indicate that combinations of phloretin and ferulic acid may actually promote cell proliferation and healing in oral cells.(7)
Treating periodontal disease will continue to depend on antibiotics for micro-organisms. And now, augmenting natural salivary antioxidants with topical antioxidants on oral tissues shows promise in reducing free radicals, oxidative stress and oral inflammation. In the fight against periodontitis and other oral inflammation, topical antioxidants are taking their place next to antibiotics.

Breath Test Sniffs Out Lung Cancer

interesting stuff. salivia and now the breath as a diagnostic tool. The mouth is an amazing place....I knew it all along....

Breath Test Sniffs Out Lung Cancer

SAN DIEGO -- Assessment of chemicals in exhaled breath distinguished between benign and malignant pulmona  .  More than half of patients with non-small cell lung cancer and KRAS mutations had partial responses or stable disease when treated with the targeted agent sorafenib, a Dutch study showed.dry nodules with 80 to 90% accuracy, results of a small clinical study showed.

Getting Your Teeth Cleaned May Help Your Heart

Getting Your Teeth Cleaned May Help Your Heart

Study Shows Professional Teeth Cleaning Is Linked to Lower Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

By Charlene Laino
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Nov. 16, 2011 (Orlando, Fla.) -- Getting your teeth cleaned may give you more than a sparkling white smile -- it may give you something to smile about, like your health.
In a large study, people who had their teeth professionally scaled at least once every two years were 24% less likely to have a heart attack, compared with those who skipped the hygienist. Scaling cleans between the gums and the teeth.
And their risk of stroke dropped by 13%, says study researcher Zu-Yin Chen, MD, a cardiology fellow at the Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan.
"Something as simple as having good dental hygiene -- brushing, flossing, and having regular cleanings -- may be good for your heart and brain health," says Ralph Sacco, MD, head of neurology at the University of Miami. Sacco, the immediate past president of the American Heart Association (AHA), was not involved with the work.
Although the link between dental health and heart and stroke risk is not entirely clear, inflammation is a common problem in gum disease and heart disease, Sacco tells WebMD.
A number of studies have linked chronic inflammation to hardening of the arteries, which can lead to heart attacks and stroke, he says.
Cleaning your teeth gets rid of bacteria in the mouth that can lead to chronic infection and inflammation, which can then spread to other parts of the body, Chen says.
The study was presented here at the American Heart Association annual meeting.

Benefits of Frequent Teeth Cleaning

Chen and colleagues reviewed the records of more than 100,000 people in Taiwan's national health insurance database. About half had received at least one cleaning; the other half had never had a cleaning.
Their average age was 38 years. None had suffered a heart attack or stroke when the study began. They were followed for an average of seven years.
Results showed that people who had more than one cleaning a year had the lowest risk of heart attack and stroke, Chen tells WebMD.
Because the researchers didn't have information on heart attack and stroke risk factors such as weight, smoking, and race -- which could have affected the results -- it could be that people with good dental hygiene are more likely to eat right and have other heart-healthy habits, Sacco says.

Wishing Everyone a Happy & Healthy New Year!