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.

My Elegant Lawn Services

     With the last few years and the downturn of the economy, the talk of the town is how to cut unnecessary expenses. Like all households in the USA, we also looked at our monthly expenditures to see what is a "need" and what is a "want". 

Growing up, we lived in a corner house with many trees along the sidewalk. Corner property means lots of grass to mow, lots of leaves to rake up and lots of snow to shovel. With 4 kids in the family, there was an endless supply of hands to help out. There was something to be done outside no matter what season it was. On Saturdays, there was hardly a chance to sleep in. The wake up call was, "Rise and Shine!Yard work awaits!" All hands on deck, there was rakes, shovels, garbage cans, trashbags to be used. The occasional break would be if I found an earthworm in the dirt. In that case, I would run inside, rinse it off and feed it to my turtle. Fresh meat!

I bought this house from my Dad more than a decade ago. While moving back felt like wearing an old pair of jeans again, I knew we would face the inevitable yard work that awaited. Being that both my husband and I work, we decided that we could indulge and splurge in hiring a lawn service company. Of course, it would just be the basic grass cutting and bushes trimming. No need for flower planting, or any ornamental this and that. Goodness, it didn't even include snow removal. 

As my kids grew older, they would sometimes catch me looking at them wistfully. Maybe they think I'm reminiscing when they were sweet little rosebuds? Nope, I'm sizing them up to see when they'll be old enough to do lawn work! 

Last year, unrelated to the economic downturn, I became unhappy with the lawn company. D's Elegant lawn Services, they called themselves. One week, I came home to my lawn trimmed but bushes left scraggly. I called them up to complain. Excuses after excuses, promises after promises. The week after, the bushes were trimmed...but one side was noticeably shorter.I even sent them a picture titled "My Un-Elegant Bushes".

After calls and multiple emails, things were still not satisfying so I decided to bite the bullet and sever the relationship with D's Elegant Lawn Services. Ready or not, time for la familia to step up to the plate and batter up! 

Jackson, my rugged, manly-man husband volunteers to do the lawn with our son. Ok, I'll be inside cheering you on! After about an hour of yelling, whining, ordering around, and overall unhappiness, the 2 men retreat to the comforts of the indoors. My son, into his room sulking, my husband, into the kitchen.

J: Honey, can see you see what this is?,  lifting up his shirt. Do you think it's a rash? I'm all itchy and my skin feels irritated.

I take a look,
Me: You look fine. How's the lawn looking?

J:  No, no, look here... you don't think it's a rash?

Me: Nope, it's just you scratching. How's the lawn working out?

J: Really, this doesn't look like a rash? Is it infected or something?

Me: Honey, we don't have poison ivy, we don't have poison oak. You're just reacting to a little grass that got blown under your shirt. No rash, no irritation and definitely no infection. But if you keep up the scratching, it will become a rash, be irritated and get infected. Go take a shower.

J: OK, can you check on Harrison and do some damage control?

"Uhhhh...how's the lawn?" No answer." And why the need for damage control?"

I go into Harrison's room. 

Me:What's the matter, Son?

H: Daddy keeps yelling at me to move the wire.

Me: Well, you do have to move the cord or else it'll be cut by the mower.

H: He doesn't have to yell so loudly at me.
Me: Was it because the lawn mower was really loud?

H: Maybe.

Me: You'll feel better after a shower too. No need to be all irritated and itchy.

 After a few rough starts, I'm proud to say that they've gotten it down to a science. King's Elegant Lawn Services work like a well-oiled machine. Less than 20 minutes and the lawn is buzz cut like a newly recruited Marine. 

Bushes are another thing. 

J: Our bushes are too high.

Me: They're fine the way they are.

J: We need to get a bush trimmer and get these lower.

Me: Leave them alone. Shoulder height is fine.

J: I'll go to Home Depot tomorrow. 

A week later, the bushes are waist high and looking really really scraggly. It looks like Godzilla had a field day at the salad bar. Pitiful. 

Me: Jackson, what happened?

J: Things needed to be beat back. I found a lot of insects and crawly things in the bushes. They tried to get me so I had to beat them back into submission.

Me: As in spiders? Spiders are our friends. They keep the insect population under control. 

J: Ohhh..... 

Great, not only are my bushes really looking bad, but the ecosystem could be in for a tilt. 

Now that the kids are off for Election Day, they have to fill 4 big black trash bags full of leaves today.

Kids: Are we being paid for this?

Me: Excuse me?

Kids: You know. Daddy says that if we do work outside the house, we will be paid.

Me: I think he meant when you finish school and get a regular job. 

Kids: Not as in raking leaves?

Me: No

Kids: Are you sure? That's what Daddy says.

Me: Do you see Daddy here? No he's not. Mommy's here and she says that doing the leaves is part of being called a family. Here's your bags to fill. See you later. 

2 hours and a snack break later.....

DING DONG!

Me: Yes? 

Kids: Allison and Harrison's Elegant Lawn Services is finished with your yard, ma'am. Ready for inspection. Are we good enough to be hired? 

Me: As in keep you as part of the family? Yep!

Kids: Horray!
Lesson learned! 

OK.... Hand it Over!

Here's another of my monthly dental articles that I write for the Japanese newspaper.
Quite fitting for October Halloween season!

OK, Hand it Over!

In the United States, every year, Halloween is celebrated on October 31^st. This holiday is an old one that started out honoring the dead.  Nowadays, it’s full of costumes, games, scary story-telling and of course, candy, candy, and more candy! Halloween is quite the dentist’s nightmare.

I remember that as a little kid my friends and I would run around the neighborhood ringing doorbell after doorbell. We would go to the houses that gave out a lot of candy twice!  There was so much candy collected that it would last me for the whole year. It would be 2 shopping bags full of candy, gum, chocolates or other sweets. My brother, sisters and I would pour everything out on the living room floor and separate them into piles. Chocolates in one pile, gum in another pile, candy in another pile, and of course, there was the “trading” pile.  The trading pile could be traded with someone else for something you liked more. There was rarely a “throw away” pile.

Now, years later, as a mother with 2 kids, I’ve noticed that the amount of candy collected for Halloween has sharply decreased. Thank goodness!  Although my poor kids will never know the joys in seeing the mountains of candy I sorted through every year! As a dentist, I know that it’s impossible to have parents ban ALL Halloween candy collections and watch the sad faces of their children as they see their goodies poured into the garbage can.  There IS a solution to keep everyone happy.

Last year, I told my kids I would go through their Halloween collections first to see if everything was safe to eat. You can never be too careful these days! I also wanted to toss out the “undesirable” goodies from a dentist’s point of view. My kids made a face and called me the “Halloween Police”.  They can call me whatever they want to but when they came through the door, I was there with my hand out. “OK, Hand it over!” It was either hand over the bags or the bags go into the trash. They obediently handed over their bags. 

So here’s a list to keep everyone happy:

BAD…..Gummy candies, sticky and chewy taffy, even dried fruits are more difficult for saliva to wash away. They get stuck between teeth and can cause cavities there.

BAD….. Sour candies are highly acidic and can break down the enamel quickly.

BAD….. It’s best to avoid anything too overly sugary. More sugar, more cavities formed.

GOOD…. Sugar-free candy or lollipops make it on this list. These don’t contain sugar and can stimulate saliva which prevents a dry mouth. Dry mouths tend to have more plaque which can lead to more cavities.

GOOD…. Sugar-free gum (my all time favorite!) can actually prevent cavities by helping to dislodge food particles from in between the teeth. It also helps prevent cavities by increasing saliva production to neutralize the acids in the mouth.

GOOD…. Dark chocolates are also on this list.  They wash away from the teeth easily and in some studies, are found to be good for the heart and lower blood pressure.

As I went through my kids’ bag of Halloween candy, I made a “Mommy pile”. When they protested, I told them, “If you’re going to call me the Halloween Police, I need to be paid for my hard work!”  Needless to say, I’m now called the “Halloween Mafia”!

I Think I Have ADD...

Lately, I've been suspecting that I have a touch of ADD, (Attention Deficit Disorder).
This morning I'm off from work. Like every day I'm at home by myself, I have a mental list of things I need to do before the rest of the troops come home.
But looking back at the events this morning made me realize that I've only done a few things on my list.
Here's how it went....

Daily Bible reading.
Verse of the Day.... A really nice one, Isaiah 41:10.
Went on to my Bible devotional reading plan. ("Parenting", which has gone on WAY longer than I anticipated because I've been bad and skipped some days. This should've ended back in May. <sigh>)
Maybe if I did a shorter one? Let's see what else they have... "Thankfulness". Oh, that's an appropriately good one! I wanted to do a new blog post on that topic!  I'll start that one too. Only 7 days on this plan. It'll give me a sense of accomplishment as well as a great way to start the day!

Share Verse of the Day on Facebook...
Check Facebook friends to see what they're up to...
See some cute and inspiring photos, (click on like, jot down some comments etc,)...
Check on Facebook alerts...Oooo, some people like the verse of the day! Yup, one of my favs as well!

Might as well check email while I'm on...
Oh, need to "help some friends with their 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader' questions"!
Answer some correctly, totally flunk out of other questions.
Delete some spam, pay some bills online, play some more "Smarter Than a 5th Grader" questions...
Alrighty, I need to actually get out of bed now!

Brush teeth, Awwww, Harrison left me a message on my mirror! Still foggy after morning showers, grab phone and snap a photo. Wait a minute, let me check to see if it's dry erase marker or Sharpie.
Good, dry erase marker.
Notice my grays are totally showing in mirror.Yikes.

Grab the hair color and cover the gray roots...I've been meaning to do this for weeks. It only takes 10 minutes but I hadn't gotten around to doing it.
No time, wonder why?
Hop into the shower! Shower, scrub the tiles while I'm in there...
Hop out, notice the sink looks less than desirable too, scrub that..
Hey,looking down,  next time I need to do a load of laundry with the bathmats too....

Take laundry downstairs, do a load, fold the load that's in the dryer...
Refill the all purpose cleaner spray bottle in the bathroom, empty out dehumidifier.
Put away clothes from the dryer.

Remember that I want to write a blog post about being Being Always Thankful...
See Wendy's photo of chicken stew on her blog, http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/2009/05/chicken-stew.html
Jot down grocery list for chicken stew....Lookie here, another soy sauce chicken one I wanted to try! Jot down ingredients for that one.

Check the fridge for leftovers.... Do I REALLY need to go grocery shopping? My MIL is not here so my family is not as picky about dinners. They're thankful for anything these days... I love looking at recipes but the actual task is daunting!
Throw away some yucky things from the fridge, put baby carrot sticks closer to the front so kids will eat them first.

Finally get to brush my teeth. Dog is looking up at me. Clean her pee papers, give her clean water and food, review tricks... Dog is happy now.

What time is it now? Got to get posting on my blog before lunchtime. Half a day is almost gone and what have I done? Seems like a lot of running around and jumping from task to task....

I know what I need! I need to have a check off list! That way, I can visualize the list and be on top of things! Let me grab a piece of scrap paper... Hey, this pile of papers should've been in the recycling pile!
Ok, let me clear up my desk before doing the list and continuing this post...... What was I writing about? ADD?!

GAZPACHO....the recipe that lasts...and lasts...and lasts...

Now that August is officially here , there's no mistaking the dog days of summer are on us in full swing. A sure sign of NYC summers is the oppressing heat and humidity. I was at my wits end last week when I remembered that years ago, when I was backpacking through Europe with my friend, Amy, we discovered .....GAZPACHO in Spain!  It was so refreshing and delicious that I was salivating already tapping on the keyboard searching for a recipe. All of them more or less involve cucumbers, tomato juice, tomatoes, red peppers, olive oil, vinegar, a random onion, and a blender. The ratios are not important. I guess it depends on your taste. Sometimes, I would see a chili pepper in the recipes too.  I jotted down the ingredients and realized to my dismay that the only thing I had at home was the blender.

"OK, children, off to the supermarket!"
"What are we getting?"
"Ingredients for gazpacho!"
"Wha's dat?"
"It's a cold Spanish veggie soup for the summer. It's really good, you'll love it! Vamanos a la supermercado!"

1/2 an hour later, ingredients on the counter top, we started. Of course, in my mind, everyone will fall in love with my gazpacho and I won't have enough of it. So while I was at the supermarket, I decided.... Let's double the ingredients for a double batch!! It just wouldn't feel right if everyone gulped it down in mass quantities and poor mother,who slaved away on the blender, didn't get any.

The 2 kids helped wash, chop and load the veggies into the blender.  I heard heavenly angels singing when I poured out of the blended mixture into various containers. This was not just glorified V8, This was something for the senses that brought back fond memories of a hot and dusty day, 2 buddies sitting by the sidewalk sipping gazpacho in Barcelona! My memories were abruptly jolted when the kids asked if they could taste it. No! It needs to be in the fridge overnight so the flavor really comes out. Popped it into the fridge. 1 large pitcher, 2 plastic quart containers, 1 cup.

After a night of chilling in the fridge, everyone was excited.
"Can we have some for dinner?"
"No, let's have it after dinner.... you know, sorta like a treat!"

Everyone had 2 cups of gazpacho! Delicious!! It felt even better knowing that I was having a daily dose of veggies! Goodness, this must be at least 4 servings of veggies!!  Even better!

The next day.... Who wants some gazpacho?
Kids: OK! it was really good yesterday!
Husband: No thanks. I think it gave me the runs.

The following day.... Who wants some gazpacho?
Kid #2: Oh, OK, I'll have some...
Me: Hello!? Anyone else?
Kid #1: Oh, alright, I'll have a little bit.
Me: Anyone else??
Husband: No thanks....

The next day.... Who wants some gazpacho?
Kids: Not really....
Me: You better get in the kitchen here and have some. I don't want to hear that I never cook anything! There's only a bit left, help me finish it off.
Husband: No thanks.
Me: Aren't you done with your runs? I don't think it was the gazpacho. Everyone else is fine.
Husband: Don't want to take the chance.
Me: Fine, be like that.

The next day.... Gazpacho, anyone?
Kids:......
Husband:.......
I know they were all within earshot of me in the kitchen but all I heard were crickets chirping...
Me: FINE, I'LL HAVE SOME MYSELF! (drinking a cup)

The last day of the Gazpacho....
What's the point of asking, they won't want any anyway. I'm getting tired of drinking it but I don't want to waste any of my hard work. Hmmmm.... wonder how it'll taste with a splash of OJ? Let's make it extra healthy with a flavor twist!
TOTAL BAD IDEA!  Tastes and smells like vomit. The last 2 cups of gazpacho went down the drain promptly.

Maybe I'll try again next summer, with a smaller batch....

My Husband is Afraid of Me!

This is the latest newspaper article I wrote for the Japanese newspaper:

A few weeks ago, there was a story that made it to the headlines of the internet. A female dentist who was dumped recently by her boyfriend was paid an unexpected visit by him. He was experiencing a severe toothache. The story goes on to say that she agreed to treat him but during treatment, gave him a strong drug and while he was unaware, extracted all his teeth. He woke up all bandaged up, in pain and toothless.

This story eventually proved to be totally false but it still touched a nerve with the public who fear the dentist.

My husband is no exception.
We've been best friends since high school and we started dating when I was in dental school but I never knew his anxiety of being in the dental chair.

The first time I was going to treat him, as the chair went back, he turned to me and said, "I'd like to apologize for anything I've done in the past to upset you. I'd also like to apologize in advance for anything in the future that may upset you. I'd also like to apologize for anything I've done that I'm not aware of that made you upset."

It was only then that I realized that this man in my chair; this man who've I've agreed to share my life with was totally afraid of me! Me, not as his wife, but ME, as the dentist!

Unfortunately, his fear of the dentist is shared by many. Luckily, there are now medications that can ease your anxiety while in the dental chair. You take a small pill when you arrive 1 hour before your appointment. You relax, read a book or take a nap. After you're relaxed enough, your dental treatment will begin. You won't be asleep but you'll still be able to answer my questions and carry on a conversation. It simply takes the edge off your nervousness.

Of course, my husband said that all in fun but it still makes me realize that there are people out there that avoid the dentist. Don't be embarrassed and as my husband can tell you, I'm really not scary at all and you can certainly keep all your teeth!