Ha Cha-cha-cha-cha!

For this week's blog connection, much like some of my senior project classmates, I will share some "dental fun facts" that most people don't think about. All facts, and pictures, have been provided by http://www.fulcherorthodontics.com/dentalfun.html. 

• Each person's set of teeth is unique - much like their fingerprints - even in identical twins.
• Some cheeses are have been found to protect teeth from decay.
• The Mexican version of the Tooth Fairy is known as the Tooth Mouse, which takes the tooth and leaves treasures in its place.
• If you're right handed, you will chew your food on your right side. If you're left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.                
• The major causes of tooth loss in people under age 35 are sports, accidents and fights.
• George Washington's dentures were made from walrus, hippopotamus, and cows' teeth, as well as elephant tusks.
• The most valuable tooth was one a nobleman purchased - belonging to the famous scientists Isaac Newton - for $4,560. It was set in a ring.
• In 200 AD, the Romans used a mixture of bones, eggshells, oyster shells and honey to clean their teeth.
• Queen Elizabeth I's teeth were noticeably discolored. A German traveler, Paul Henter, speculated that the discoloration was due to the Queen's excessive consumption of sugar, making the first recorded association between sugar and tooth decay.
• The second most common disease in the United States is tooth decay. The first is the common cold.
• Ants can lift an object up to fifty times their body-weight and carry it over their heads. They don't do this with their feet, but with their mouths.
• Crocodiles don't clean their own teeth - they let a plover (little bird) pick their teeth for scraps of leftover food.
• The largest toothed mammal in the world is the sperm whale. A whale's lower jaw, measuring 16'5" long, is exhibited in the British Museum of Natural History in London. The whale it belonged to reportedly measured 84 feet in length.
• A snail can have about 25,000 teeth (on its tongue).
• Horses teeth are extremely long and grow continually. They wear down, change shape and become discolored as they grow, so we can really tell a horse's age by looking at his teeth.
• A shark's teeth are literally as hard as steel.

One fact that I found particularly interesting was about teeth being unique. Before reading this, I thought, based on my own observation, people's teeth closely resembled their mothers'. I guess I have much more to learn about the dental profession and its studies.

Hello Ladies

Last Thursday, I attended a Leading Ladies seminar, against my will, but was surprised at the outcome. I won't lie and say that I had the best time of my life, in fact if Ashlee McPherson hadn't been there I would've passed out from boredom. OK, maybe I wouldn't have passed out, but it was pretty boring. I was separated from any friends I had, but I did get friendlier with Ashlee. I was glad for the experience; it really made me think about myself as a female in a male-dominated world which, growing up in this town where females are on the competitive edge, really made me think. In September, I will enter the "adult" world where no one will truly care where I come from or what I've done; all they'll care about is how I can help them or what I can do to make their life better.

How do you do?

Because of an interfering circumstance involving community service, I was unable to stay at the dental office as long as usual, so I only saw Dr. Okon do a filling. I'm not complaining about my time there, but there are so many fillings you can see before you start to get a tad bored. I know I've said this before, but maybe I'll try to venture to other parts of the office. The only problem is it's pretty hard to determine whether the procedure he performs when I'm there is something that I need to see. I'll be sure to check next week, but in the mean time I'm always looking around the office to see what I can do for my presentation.

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome baaaccckkk !

I returned to Dr. Okon's office after a two week break and nothing had changed much. The only difference was a new employee whose name I haven't yet acquired. Anyway, on Monday I went straight to the back of the office and watched Dr. Okon and Barbie, his dental assistant, perform laminate "surgery". There are not enough horrible words in the world to describe how disgustingly horrible this womans' teeth looked. To begin with, laminates were only done on the top row of her mouth and those teeth looked like they were rotting at the root. One particular tooth was broken so Dr. Okon rounded it and capped it. The bottom row of teeth was crooked and overlapped and, to my great surprise, was completely ignored by Dr. Okon. Perhaps she didn't have enough money to fix the bottom, but it was a mess.

My choice, my way, or the highway

As apart of the community service requirement, and my own enjoyment, I am participating in the Senior Citizen's event this year: as a dancer! The reason I'm so excited is that I will be dancing alongside the amazing Mr. Dennis Lupchinsky, the choreographer for all Lindenwold High School musical productions. I, along with Courtney Coe, Briana Woodruff, Shai McLeod and Victoria Cepeda will be showgirl-type back-up dancers. This will be the first time I have ever seen him doing dance for something other than the musicals and I was one of the first people who came to mind when he thought of his back-up dancers! I can't wait to do his amazing dancing skills justice, but I'm not particularly looking forward to singing and dancing to We Go Together again. It is honestly the most annoying, drama-filled dance/song to perform and I also have some mixed feelings about the way some people "dance", but in any event I will do what I am asked because I love Mrs. Triplo and hate to disappoint.

Disney World: The Hap-hap-happiest place. On. Earth !

Woo-hoo! Disney World was super fun, interesting and, surprisingly, educational. Of course, as was required, I made a connection between Disney World and dentistry. One thing I noticed was the teeth of the various Disney characters I saw around the park. Take Goofy for example, he is a dog who is, as his name describes, goofy. He isn't a villain, and isn’t a bad character; in fact, he’s a very innocent, naїve dog. Maybe they gave him the gapped buck-tooth teeth to seem funnier. It seems Disney gave him big teeth to make up for the fact that Mickey and Minnie Mouse, both mice that are supposed to have enlarged front teeth, have no teeth at all. I think commercialism, especially that of the wonderful world of Disney,  uses the aspect of teeth to further push the image that they want people to see.