Can We Smile Our Way to Better Health?

Aug 11, 2022

IT’S NOT ACTUALLY true that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile; smiling takes at least ten muscles while frowning requires as few as six. We think the saying should be changed to “smile to burn more calories!” And that isn’t the only health benefit of...

Elizabethan England’s Rotten Sweet Tooth

Aug 4, 2022

IN ONE OF HIS sonnets, Shakespeare described the reeking breath of his lady love, and the subject came up again in two of his plays. He sets a creepy mood with the “black contagious breath” of the night in “King John” and includes the line “his breath stinks with...

When to Expect Baby Teeth to Appear

Jul 28, 2022

A COUPLE OF the biggest rites of passage in childhood are the first baby teeth coming in and the first adult teeth coming in. We’re here to give parents a brief guide on the general timeline to follow. The Baby Teeth Schedule Baby teeth tend to arrive in pairs,...

Cavities: The Most Common Childhood Disease

Jul 21, 2022

40% OF KIDS WILL develop at least one cavity by the time they turn eleven, which makes tooth decay the most common disease of childhood. That might seem scary, but parents can make a big difference, and that starts with understanding what causes cavities. Sugary...

How Do Swimming and Diving Affect Teeth?

Jul 14, 2022

“SWIMMER’S CALCULUS” SOUNDS more like advanced mathematics than anything to do with teeth, but it’s actually the term for yellow or brown stains a swimmer can develop on their teeth after prolonged exposure to acidic chlorine ions in pool water. Tooth enamel is so...

Dental Health in Ancient Cultures

Jul 12, 2022

WE TEND TO ASSUME that people from earlier eras (especially the pre-industrial ones) must have had terrible dental health, but that’s not always true. While we get to benefit from modern dental care, braces, and root canal therapy here in the 21st century, the ancient...