Reason to Ditch the Soft Drinks #189

Posted on Wednesday, September 18th, 2019

In news that should surprise exactly nobody, yet another large study has shown a relationship between soft drink consumption and death risk. Published earlier this month in JAMA Internal Medicine, the study analyzed data from more than 450,000 European adults whose health habits were followed for 11 years or more. Compared with those who drank […]

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Brushing Your Teeth Matters, but It Isn’t Everything

Posted on Wednesday, September 11th, 2019

So yes, of course, oral hygiene matters. But it’s not everything, as new research in the BDJ reminds. The study was just the latest to look at the oral health of elite athletes. It included Olympians and pros alike, representing 11 sports all together. But when it came to the state of their teeth, those […]

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Another Toothbrush Option: Is It Worth It?

Posted on Wednesday, September 4th, 2019

When it comes to cringe, it’s hard to beat a show like 90 Day Fiance, but this recent fleeting moment of Darcy’s oral hygiene was enough to make a dentist shudder: The whole point of a power toothbrush is that it does the scrubbing for you. You just need to hold the brush and move […]

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Getting the Mercury Amalgam Out Is One Thing…

Posted on Friday, August 30th, 2019

When Dr. V began phasing out mercury amalgam from his dental practice back in the mid-1970s, it was kind of a radical thing. How times have changed! These days, about half of all dentists here in the US no longer use the stuff. The reasons are many: mercury’s neurotoxicity, improvements in composite quality, aesthetic concerns, […]

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Stress Isn’t Going Anywhere. So What to Do About It?

Posted on Wednesday, August 21st, 2019

If you feel more stressed out than ever these days, you’re hardly alone. Take our country’s current political climate and recurring episodes of mass violence, top it off with the more typical stress-inducers of money and work, and you’ve got a perfect recipe for feeling totally maxed out. According to the American Psychological Association’s most […]

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What the Top 10 Causes of Death Say About the Usual Ideas of Illness & Health

Posted on Wednesday, August 14th, 2019

Earlier this summer, the Department of Health and Human Services released their latest rankings of the top 10 causes of death here in the US. Unsurprisingly, heart disease and cancer once again appeared in the top two spots, accounting for 44.3% of all deaths in 2017. In fact, the whole list was pretty familiar, though […]

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A Few Pro Tips for Eating Organic & Local on a Budget

Posted on Wednesday, August 7th, 2019

Recently spotted on Facebook: There’s a lot of truth in that – but it doesn’t negate the fact that making healthful choices can strain the budgets of more than a few people. This may be especially so when it comes to diet. Organic and local are ideal, but they can also be spendy. A pound […]

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When Big Food Embraces Mindfulness

Posted on Wednesday, July 31st, 2019

There was an interesting read over at The Nation last week – an interview with SF State professor Ronald Purser about his new book McMindfulness, a critique of the ways in which corporations have embraced mindfulness. Stripped of all ethical and religious tenets, mindfulness meditation has morphed into a market-friendly practice, adaptable into any context. […]

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Dental Insurance Isn’t Really Insurance

Posted on Wednesday, July 24th, 2019

One of the many problems with the “health care” biz in this country is the simple fact that so many decisions are driven not by patients or doctors but insurance companies. Dental insurance isn’t much better, but for reasons that many well-intentioned folks seem to ignore when they suggest that better access to dental insurance […]

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And No Sooner Had We Posted About Implants…

Posted on Wednesday, July 17th, 2019

If you’ve followed our blog for a while, you may recall the race to make the fastest toothbrush ever. (If you don’t, here’s a recap). Now there seems to be a similar “speed stakes” going on in the wonderful world of dental implants, too. No sooner had we published last week’s post on the number […]

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