Anybody who has a child participating in organized sports worries about injuries brought about as a result of that sport. And it matters not whether it’s a contact sport like football or the less impactful activity like tennis. There’s always the threat of injury.

That’s why many dentists — as well as the American Dental Association — are firm believers in mouth guards as being invaluable in protecting against injuries to the mouth. These same dentists and the ADA also believe that a custom-made mouth guard is superior to the ones you can pick up at your local sports store.

For one thing, a custom-created guard fits better in your child’s mouth, which means they’ll be more comfortable — and which also means your young athletes are more likely to use them. Also, because they fit well, it’s more likely that the guard will remain in place, rather than Continue Reading »

One of our local news stations ran an item on their website recently that lists the things folks would be willing to give up in order to keep their cell phones. It was an interesting survey with some pretty surprising findings. If nothing else, it certainly prompted some lively debate here at the office.

The survey was conducted last month by TeleNavi, a mobile applications company, and the 514 cell phone users who were interviewed provided some stunning responses to the query, “Would you rather give up your cell phone for a week or …?” For instance, would you believe about a third of respondents said they’d get along just fine without sex if they could keep their cell phone? And that 70 percent of that group were women?

The survey goes on to say that 70 percent of those surveyed would give up alcohol in exchange for fulltime possession of their cell phone. A little more than half would forego caffeine (55 percent) and exercise (54 percent); and one in five would toss out their toothbrush, shoes or computer just so they could keep talking and texting via cell phone.

OK, this was fun for awhile, but giving up your toothbrush? Are these 20 percenters crazy? You can walk barefoot, you can live without coffee, and your cell phone is practically a computer anyway. But selecting your toothbrush over your cell phone?

What are you going to be talking about on that fancy phone if you’re not brushing your teeth on a regular basis? “Hi, Margie, guess how many of my Continue Reading »