Best proverbs with smile...

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.
~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.
~Phyllis Diller
Start every day with a smile and get it over with.
~W.C. Fields
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
~Mark Twain, Following the Equator
If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.
~Andy Rooney
Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.
~George Eliot
The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.
~William Shakespeare, Othello
Peace begins with a smile.
~Mother Teresa
I smile every time I see the Golden Gate Bridge.
A San Franciscan
reference Quote Garden Smiles

6 Reasons Why Parents Should Care for Baby Teeth

“Baby teeth fall out anyway. So why bother taking good care of them?”
Kids dentists and family dentists get asked this question all the time. Here are six reasons why parents should begin caring for their baby’s teeth as early:

• Healthy development and self confidence – Healthy teeth are necessary for the development of normal speech and appearance, both of which are important to your child’s self confidence. When a child has rotten, faulty or missing teeth she cannot speak clearly or smile and laugh with abandon. If she feels the need to keep quiet, cover her mouth while talking or be careful while smiling or laughing aloud, she will not feel good about herself; especially when she sees other kids do not have the same setbacks.
• Placeholders for permanent teeth – Baby teeth are place holders for permanent teeth. So the decay and loss of baby teeth can deform the mouth permanently. So if you are worried about your child having great teeth later in life, you need to take good care of baby teeth.
• Important for nutrition – Primary teeth will help babies and children in chewing and biting for a number of years, until they develop permanent teeth. So their early loss could interfere with your child’s nutrition.
• Give them a good start – Painful teeth and gums can lead to loss of concentration. Kids can miss school due to toothache and other issues. Both these can interfere with their educational attainments.
• Good dental habits are developed early – If baby gets used to brushing her teeth early, she is well on her way to developing positive dental habits during childhood, teen years and into adulthood.
• Earlier you begin with dental care, the better – Younger babies are more malleable than older ones and more open to new experiences. They are also likely to be less stubborn than older babies. So, it is best to start baby dental care routines early, even when the baby cannot hold her own tooth brush steadily or do it on her own.

Now you have six great reasons to motivate you take good care of your little one’s brand new baby teeth

Top 10 female smiles.

According to a recent poll, the following female celebrities are rated the top 10 female smiles. What do you think?
1. Jennifer Garner
2. Rachael McAdams
3. Britney Spears
4. Jessica Alba
5. Hilary Duff
6. Julia Roberts
7. Mandy Moore
8. Ashlee Simpson
9. Cameron Diaz
10. Kirsten Dunst

Kirsten Dunst

Cameron Diaz

Ashlee Simpson

Hilary Duff

Mandy Moore

Julia Roberts

Jessica Alba

Britney Spears

Rachel McAdams

Jennifer Garner

10 Ways to Relieve Dry Mouth(Xerostomia)

Do you suffer from dry mouth? Dry mouth or xerostomia can occur due to many factors. There are just as many or more temporary solutions for this condition.
Mayo Clinic however, recommends that it is best to address the underlying issues that cause dry mouth rather than look for short term solutions.
First, see whether you can relieve dry mouth in the following ways:

1. Try sugar-free gum or sugar-free hard candies.
2. Limit or stay off that coffee. Caffeine leads to a drier mouth.
3. Avoid mouthwashes with alcohol because the alcohols can cause drying.
4. Stop smoking or chewing tobacco.
5. Hydrate your mouth. Take a sip of water on a regular basis.
6. Some over-the-counter saliva substitutes may also help. Try to find saliva substitutes containing carboxymethylcellulose or hydroxyethyl cellulose.
7. Avoid over-the-counter antihistamines and decongestants.  They can make things worse.
8. Listen to your mother (at least now) and breathe through your nose, not your mouth.
9. Moisten the air in your bedroom at night. Use a humidifier.

10.  Find out whether any medications you are using may be causing dry mouth.
Saliva helps to keep your mouth and teeth healthy. A persistent dry mouth can lead to many oral and dental issues. So if dry mouth persists, consult your doctor or dentist to discuss a workable solution. This may mean changing the types of medication you use or changing your lifestyle and habits.
Great info sources on dry mouth
NIH SeniorHealth pages provide lots of information including two short videos:

• “What Is Dry Mouth?”
• “What Can I Do about Dry Mouth?”

Top 10 Common Dental Problems

A healthy mouth and a great smile can be invaluable to our sense of wellbeing and self confidence. But good dental health is not something to be taken for granted. Check out these Top 10 Dental Problems and you would be surprised how easy it is to prevent many of them. Good nutrition and a few minutes of oral care every day would save a lot of trouble later and save money too. The idiom about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure, really says it all.
Here’s the list of Top 10 Common Dental Problems courtesy, About.com Dental Care pages:

• Bad breath
• Tooth decay
• Gum disease
• Oral cancer
• Mouth sores
• Tooth erosion
• Tooth sensitivity
• Toothache and dental emergencies
• Unattractive smile

And the list is of course about common dental problems in adults.
You can find out more about avoiding or preventing the above conditions in the “Dental Problems” section on FreeDentistFinder.com. Be pleasantly surprised how you can save on dental bills! Also, don’t forget to visit the Dental Treatments section for the solutions offered by dentists and other dental professionals.
But, what about kids?
What is the top dental problem for American children? The most common dental problem in children is dental caries, or tooth decay.
If tooth decay is not attended to early, you child faces a lifetime of pain and complications. This is why the American Dental Association recommends that you take your child for a dental visit within six months after the first tooth comes and no later than the first birthday.
Think of this first dental visit as a “well baby checkup” for the baby’s teeth. On the first visit, your dentist will check for tooth decay and other problems. Your dentist can also show you how to clean the child’s teeth properly. After the first visit, it is recommended that baby visits the dentist every six months.

Gum Disease Raises The Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Results from Scottish Health Survey
Over the past two decades, there has been an increasing interest in the possible link between dental disease, specifically periodontal (gum) disease, and cardiovascular disease.1 Inflammation plays an important role as it relates to atherosclerosis, and other low grade inflammations, which have been associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.2 Consequently, contributing factors associated with inflammation and chronic infections, such as oral infections like periodontal disease, have been investigated to explain the relation between dental disease and cardiovascular disease.

Poor oral hygiene is the major cause of periodontal disease, which is a chronic infection of the tissue surrounding the teeth. It is one of the most common chronic infections and is associated with a moderate systemic inflammatory response,3 such as raised concentrations of C reactive protein and other inflammatory biomarkers.4 5 6 7 Systemic inflammation could represent the underlying mechanism that links oral health and cardiovascular disease. Thus, oral infections might add to the inflammatory burden of the individual, and result in increased levels of cardiovascular risk based on serum C reactive protein and fibrinogen concentrations as a consequence of the systemic inflammatory response subsequent to low grade chronic infections.8

The Scottish study suggests a possible role of poor oral hygiene in the risk of cardiovascular disease via systemic inflammation. Raised inflammatory and homoeostatic responses as well as lipid metabolism disturbance caused by periodontal infection might be possible pathways underlying the observed association between periodontal disease and the increased risk for cardiovascular disease.29 Few studies, however, have examined these potential pathways. If these biological mechanisms are responsible for a slight increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease, better controlled and larger studies will be needed to identify them. Such efforts would be important because of the relatively high prevalence of periodontal disease.

The results confirmed and further strengthened the suggested association between oral hygiene and the risk of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, inflammatory markers were significantly associated with poor oral health behaviour. Future experimental studies will be needed to confirm whether the observed association between oral health behaviour and cardiovascular disease is in fact causal or merely a risk marker. Nevertheless, use of a simple one item measure of self reported toothbrushing could be a useful and cost effective marker of future health risk in large scale population studies.

Given the high prevalence of oral infections in the population, doctors should be alert to the possible oral source of an increased inflammatory burden. In addition, educating patients in improving personal oral hygiene is beneficial to their oral health regardless of the relation with systemic disease.

Bottom line, brushing your teeth not only improves your oral health, but a clean mouth helps keep your heart as inflammation free as possible, and so it may function at it’s best.
The researchers:

1. Cesar de Oliveira, research fellow in epidemiology and public health,
2. Richard Watt, professor and honorary consultant in dental public health,
3. Mark Hamer, senior research fellow in epidemiology and public health

Your Mouth on Green Tea

Extensive research has verified green tea’s power to heal the body and the mouth. Studies show that consuming 1 to 6 cups of green tea daily can impact your oral health in the following ways:

1. Reduces Periodontal Inflammation: A 2009 study performed by The American Academy of Periodontology revealed that patients who drank at least one cup of green tea per day had superior periodontal health compared to those who did not drink green tea.

2. Kills Oral Cancer Cells: Evidence shows that polyphenol, a powerful antioxidant found in green tea, neutralizes cancer-causing free radicals and can actually kill existing oral cancer cells.

3. Inhibits the Formation of Dental Plaque: Another study tells us that drinking green tea or rinsing with a green-tea extract can reduce the formation of plaque and the occurrence of dental caries.

4. Repels Odor-Causing Bacteria: A study performed at the University of Illinois found that components in green tea can inhibit the growth of oral bacteria and interfere with the production of hydrogen sulfide (the culprit behind the rotten-egg smell).

Make Your Smile Your Best Accessory.

Who invented toothpaste...

Have you ever wondered who first came up with toothpaste? We did, And here’s what we found.

Toothpaste is meant to clean teeth and gums, whiten teeth and freshen up breath. Key ingredient in toothpaste is really an abrasive that can scrape or grind away food leftovers and plaque that builds up on teeth.
The first instances of toothpaste—or dental cream—were known to have been developed in ancient Egypt, between 3000 and 5000 BC. Egyptian version of toothpaste comprised, according to Thomas P. Connelly, D.D.S., writing on toothpaste history in huffingtonpost.com, many abrasives including powdered ashes from oxen hooves, myrrh, egg shells and pumice. Water was added to the powder to make a paste.
To scrape off plaque more effectively, Greeks and Romans added more abrasives to the mix such as crushed bones and oyster shells. Romans are also known to have added powdered charcoal and bark, apparently as a flavoring agent. Even today, in some parts of Asia, people use charcoal—from wood fires in gardens and hearths—instead of toothpaste. People in China and in India were also using powders and pastes for cleaning their teeth by around 500 BC. Chinese added Ginseng, herbal mints and salt to flavour their toothpaste.
By mid 1800s, toothpaste had soap and chalk among the ingredients. Before 1850’s toothpaste were only available commercially in powder form. 1850’s saw toothpaste in a jar called Crème Dentifrice. By 1873 Colgate started mass producing toothpaste in jars. A toothpaste tube similar to modern-day ones were also introduced by Colgate in the 1890s.
Toothpaste became an organized medium to stave off specific diseases and conditions only in the 20th century. Fluoride which helps prevent tooth decay has been added to toothpastes since 1914. According to Colgate.com, “toothpastes today typically contain fluoride, coloring, flavoring, sweetener, as well as ingredients that make the toothpaste a smooth paste, foam and stay moist.” At present, you can find toothpastes that whiten teeth, and ones that contain, among other things, Triclosan and Xylitol which are added to provide protection against tooth decay, gum disease, plaque and bad breath.
More information
At Toothpasteworld.com, have fun reading the many ingredients that went into toothpaste over the years. The list includes Ashes from burnt heads of mice, rabbits, wolves and dragon’s blood!
Also, don’t forget to check out the collection highlights at toothpasteworld.com which include champagne, bourbon and whiskey flavoured toothpaste.
Toothpaste history from parentingtoddlers.com

A cavity ruins everything....