Can We Smile Our Way to Better Health?
IT’S NOT ACTUALLY true that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile; smiling takes at least ten muscles while frowning…
Elizabethan England’s Rotten Sweet Tooth
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…
How Do Braces Actually Work?
MOVING TEETH INTO their proper alignment is a complicated and fascinating process, so how do braces do it? Let’s…
Why the Banned Foods List Matters
EVERY CURRENT AND former orthodontic patient knows about the banned foods list. It can mostly be summarized as “don’t eat anything…
How Do Swimming and Diving Affect Teeth?
“SWIMMER’S CALCULUS” SOUNDS more like advanced mathematics than anything to do with teeth, but it’s actually the term for yellow…
Dental Health in Ancient Cultures
WE TEND TO ASSUME that people from earlier eras (especially the pre-industrial ones) must have had terrible dental health, but that’s…
Never Forget That Teeth Are Not Tools
TEETH HAVE MANY different uses, from chewing our food to helping us speak clearly to forming the structure…
Make It to Braces-Off Day Without Stains
MANY ORTHODONTIC PATIENTS reach Braces-Off Day only to discover bleached spots on their teeth. These and…
Can Braces Help With Speech Problems?
WE NEED SEVERAL things working together to be able to speak clearly. Speech disorders can result from impaired hearing, genetics, or a cleft…
Time for a Lesson in Dental Anatomy!
THERE WON’T BE a pop-quiz later, but we still want our patients to be familiar with the anatomy of their teeth…