Hallelujah!

My latest article for the Japanese newspaper, Weekly Biz.
As always, for your reading pleasure!

Hallelujah! My Tooth is Out!

After graduating from dental school, I enrolled in a 2 year post-grad residency program at a hospital in Brooklyn. Brookdale University Hospital is in a rather rough part of Brooklyn. It serves the community neighborhoods of Brownsville and East New York.  I chose the program to get the most experience in treating all types of dental problems as well as head and neck problems. Where this hospital is located, there was definitely a fair share of action. Gunshot wounds, broken jaws, head and neck cancers, knife wounds to the face… lots of exciting stuff!

We were required to take turns and stay in the hospital and treat emergencies that come in overnight. Most of the night time emergencies are from drunken fighting. But one of the most memorable patients that came in the middle of the night was a sweet little old lady. You could tell she was from down South by her accent. She could easily pass for someone’s grandmother. She was a tiny little bird of a lady.

Now, tooth pain is rough. I’ve heard people get really religious with a toothache. “Lordy, I can’t take this anymore!” or “Sweet Jesus, this really hurts!” This time, it was a different type of praying! That night, I was half asleep when the beeper went off and I got out of bed reluctantly and made my way over to the emergency room.  She sat there with her hands folded in her lap wearing a dark blue fall coat, hat and white gloves. She looked like she was dressed for church.  She pointed to a lower molar that was rotted to the core. It was beyond savable so I told her it needed to be extracted. “Oh no, I don’t want it taken out,” she said.  “It’ll only get worse”, I told her. “You can’t leave it like that.”

“It will be fine,” she promised me. “I will pray and put holy water on it.”

Now, not a lot of things leave me speechless, but this did. I didn’t know how to answer her. She must have seen my expression so she patted my arm and said, “Don’t worry a thing about me, dear.” And she left.

The next night, she was back. (I guess the praying and holy water didn’t work this time.) By now, she was willing to part ways with her tooth.  I helped her fill out all the paperwork and got the area numb. As tiny as she was, she had tough bone around that tooth! I rocked that tooth, I shook it, I used all my strength but there was not much movement. All the while, she had both hands on my arms and was praying out loud. I couldn’t quite hear exactly what she was saying since everything was in her mouth but I caught a few words. Suddenly and unexpectedly, with a loud “Hallelujah!” she pushed my hands out of her mouth. I almost fell backwards half by surprise and half from her force but the tooth came out in one piece.  I was shocked but by the look on her face, it was what she expected to happen. She was sitting calmly in the chair.  I gave her some cotton to bite down on while I wrote up the chart. All the time I was thinking, “What just happened?”  I never saw her again after that but I can imagine her back at church praising the Lord loudly now that the bothersome tooth is gone!

I said,,,,My Favorite Color is GREEN!

Here's the latest dental article that I wrote for the Japanese newspaper:

My Favorite Color is Green

When my daughter was around 2 years old, I decided it was time for her to get her own little plastic cup. She was beginning to want to eat on her own and I didn’t want her to break any of the cups we usually use at home.  Before the age of 2, everything she wore or ate was pretty much picked out by me. This would be a great time to see if she had an opinion of her own, I thought. Let’s see if she has a favorite color at this age.

The next time we were at the mall, we stopped by the Hello Kitty store.

I walked with her to where the little plastic cups were. There were all different colored cups; red, pink, light purple, light blue, green, yellow or white.

I let her look around a bit by herself.

“So… which one do you want?” I asked.

She walked over to the green Keropi frog cup.

 “Allison wants green”. She said.

I was puzzled. Little girls usually like pink or purple or red. What is wrong with my child?

“Are you sure you don’t want this Hello Kitty one? Look, it’s a really pretty RED color with Hello Kitty on it. It’s Mommy’s favorite color.”

“No, Allison wants green.” She repeated.

“Well, how about this one over here. Little Twin Stars is PINK and really cute!”

“No, Allison wants this one.” She said again, picking up the Keropi one.

“No pink or purple one? Look again, are you sure?” I asked.

“No, ALLISON wants GR-EEN”. She said loudly as if I didn’t understand her the other times.

I ended up getting her the green Keropi plastic cup that day and she walked out of the store proudly holding her own bag.

But a few days afterwards, just to check, when she was coloring, I asked her what her favorite color is again.

“Green.” She said quickly without thinking.

Alright... But I’m determined to get a “pink” or “purple” answer out of her anyway.

“What is your next favorite color?”

“Brown.” Without even looking up from what she’s doing.

“Ohhhh… well, what about after that?”

“Skin-colored.”  (WHAT?!)

After the third try, I gave up. Daughters, I’ll never understand them!

Choosing toothpaste is the same way. When you walk into a store and look around, there are so many different choices. Different brands, gel or paste, sensitive or extra whitening, ones to use only at night, baking soda, fluoride,etc…

When patients ask me what toothpaste they should use, unless they have a specific problem or issue, it’s very easy. If you have sensitive teeth, use a sensitive toothpaste. If you want to have fresher breath, use a stronger minty one and brush your tongue as well. If you’re loyal to a specific brand, use that one. For a patient that doesn’t have any special concerns, my recommendations are that it only needs to be one that contains fluoride (helps keep teeth strong) and it also needs to have the seal of the American Dental Association (ADA). The ADA runs tests and has specific guidelines for toothpastes. But besides those two, the most important criteria that’s needed for your toothpaste is that YOU must LIKE the taste. If you don’t like the taste of your toothpaste, you will not use it.  In the past, I’ve recommended a specific sensitive toothpaste to a patient and months later, the sensitivity issue was still there. I asked him if he was using the sensitive toothpaste. “No, because I didn’t like the taste”. Ah-ha!

So now, I don’t recommend a specific brand. Use a sensitive toothpaste, but you’ll have to see which taste you like.

Just like my daughter’s little green Keropi cup, if she likes it, she will use it. And if I ended up getting her a pink one instead, most likely, she won’t use it as much and end up lost around the house. So wouldn’t you guess,  10 years later, that little green plastic cup is faded and Keropi, the frog is a little bit scratched up but she still uses it!  If you like it, you’ll stick with using it longer.