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2975 Westchester Avenue, Suite G02, Purchase, NY 10577
• www.oralsurgeryofwestchester.com
Who Still Believes in the Tooth Fairy? A LITTLE EXTRA MAGIC
“The tooth fairy has paid quite a few visits to our house.” “
I am sure any dental profession would agree that the best part about working in this industry is getting to meet the tooth fairy. At least, this is what I tell my younger patients. Aug. 22 is National Tooth Fairy Day, which has put the tooth fairy top of mind. When kids come in to get their teeth extracted, we always make sure they get the tooth back. This is really important for patients who whole-heartedly believe in the tooth fairy. Some kids worry that the tooth fairy won’t come because their teeth didn’t fall out on their own, but I assure them that we have a hotline to the tooth fairy. We let her know the teeth were extracted so that she can visit that night. The real question is how much are their teeth worth? Back in 1998, Delta Dental began conducting an annual poll to find out how much money children received from the tooth fairy. That first year, they found the average going rate for a baby tooth was $1.30. It seems that the tooth fairy is impacted by inflation because the price has gone up since then. In 2017, the tooth fairy was paying an average of $4.50 per tooth. That’s certainly a lot higher than when I was a kid! The tooth fairy has paid quite a few visits to our house. We have two sets of twins in our family, which means 80 baby teeth needed to be collected over the years. Whenever one of the kids lost a tooth, the tooth fairy would give them a little money in exchange for the tooth, as promised. But the tooth fairy knows how important it can be for twins to do things together, so both kids would wake up with small gifts, regardless of which twin lost the tooth. Everyone was happy. When our kids first started losing their baby teeth, my wife and I printed out a picture of the tooth fairy for them. Getting a picture of the tooth fairy is a lot different than getting a picture of another childhood legend, like Santa Claus. Unlike jolly old St. Nick, Coca-Cola hasn’t created a universally accepted image of the tooth fairy. This means kids can have pretty wild ideas of what the tooth fairy looks like.
Our kids pictured your typical pretty sprite, but in 1984, Dr. Rosemary Wells, America’s foremost tooth fairy expert, asked the kids what they thought the tooth fairy looked like. She learned some children imaged the tooth fairy as a bear, a bat, a dragon, or even “a potbellied, cigar-smoking, jeans-clad flying male.” Talk about some wild imaginations. I encourage children to believe in the tooth fairy because it’s fun. Some people say that believing in the tooth fairy helps kids practice better dental habits. While I don’t think believing in a magical, money-giving sprite encourages children to take better care of their teeth, I have seen how knowing the tooth fairy will come can make it easier on children who need to have a tooth pulled. There’s so much information available these days; it’s easy for even kids to debunk the idea of fairies. This is part of the reason I encourage my younger patients to believe in the tooth fairy. It’s fun to let a little fantasy play out, and we could all use some extra magic in our lives.
–Dr. Michael Graffeo
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Westchester Office • 914-251-0313
School’s Back!
Tap Into the Back-to-School Season
As you load up the family for some final summertime adventures, preparing for the upcoming school year is likely one of the last things on your mind. Instead of shopping for school supplies, your main focus might be finding the best place to position your lawn chair around the campfire for optimal marshmallow roasting! But the back-to-school season is coming up, and families need to begin the expensive task of purchasing items for school. According to the National Retail Foundation, back-to-school shopping contributes to 17% of total annual sales. That’s a nearly $76 billion industry that your business could be cashing in on.
tapping into the full capacity of the market. You need to make the offer something people actually want or need, be it chiropractic adjustments for kids carrying too many books or discounts on vehicle services for carpooling families. For example, if you sell and service computers, you must do more than offer 10% off all technology services for the back-to-school season. Provide a sale on installing and updating programs for students or provide a gift with the purchase of a laptop for college students on the go. This makes your offer more appealing to your customer base, which will guarantee you happy and returning customers.
teachers. Thousands of dedicated teachers across the U.S. have a classroom budget, and some must dip into their bank accounts to keep their classrooms stocked. Offering “thank-you” discounts and sales for teachers will bring more business through your door and help you support your community. Teachers can also serve as a direct marketing tool for your business. Whether it’s via mailers or in-person during open house nights, August is full of teacher-to-parent communication that could include coupons or recommendations to your business. The back-to-school season isn’t just for the big- box stores or retail providers. You can tap into this powerful market and make this last summer stretch a lucrative business season. The innovations continued in 1891 with German dentist Otto Walkhoff, who began using camphorated chlorophenols to sterilize root canals, then picked up speed in 1908 with the introduction of new techniques to measure the root canal. Almost in tandem, Dr. Meyer L. Rhein came up with a newway to determine canal length and level of obturation, and G.V. Black proposed a method to prevent overfilling by determining out canal length and apical foramen size. When infection theories were settled in the late 1940s and dentists finally agreed that not all infected teeth need to be removed to prevent systemic disease, the modern root canal was truly born. It has been well-received over the decades, with success rates reported from 86% to over 95%. Today, new alternative procedures like GentleWave, which uses fluid dynamics to clean out the root canal, are just starting to gain traction. Clearly, this is an area of dentistry to watch.
However, when you only offer a special or sale because of a particular season, you are not
There’s also a key demographic in the back- to-school market that often gets forgotten:
THE HISTORY OF THE ROOT CANAL
FromWatch Springs to Waves
T he origin story of the root canal — remember from dental school. That’s because the first root canal instrument wasn’t a carefully designed, brand-new tool but something a lot more ad hoc: a filed-down watch spring. The innovation was the brainchild of a Washington, D.C. dentist named Edwin Maynard. Faced with an infected tooth, Maynard created the first precursor to the modern root canal when he filed down a watch spring and attached it to his drill in order to sand down the cap of the tooth. The modification allowed him to safely access the infected pulp within, facilitating the removal of nerve tissue, blood vessels, and cellular entities; the reshaping of the canal; and the filling process. But Maynard isn’t the only one who deserves credit for the root canal procedure we perform today. Other creative dentists specifically the root canal file — might be one of those things you’ll always
followed his example. In “A Brief History of Endodontics,” Dr. Arnaldo Castellucci writes that in 1847, dentist Edwin Truman pioneered the use of gutta-percha, the rubbery thermoplastic still used today as a filling material. In 1867, G.A. Bowman was the first to use gutta-percha cones as “the sole material for obturating root canals,” and in 1885, Lepkowski began using formalin instead of arsenic to fix pulp stumps.
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Research Offers a Better Understanding of How Music Aids with Pain Management in Dentistry
Music is often used to help patients relax during dental treatment, but evidence suggests that listening to music actually helps patients manage pain during treatment. The June 2019 volume of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (JOMS) featured a study that examined the effects of music on a patient’s autonomic nervous system and psychological state during the extraction of the impacted mandibular third molar. The prospective study involved 40 patients already scheduled for extraction. Theywere randomly divided into two groups: extraction without music (control group) and extraction while listening to music (music group). Heart rate variabilitywas recorded during the extraction, and Modified Dental Anxiety Scale and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scores were recorded before and after the procedure. In the control group, the researchers noted an increase in low-to-high frequency ratios during incision and flap reflection, bone removal, and separation of the tooth crown. However, in the music group, the ratio was significantly lower during these same points. The music group also had significantly lower postoperative STAI State Anxiety scores from preoperative levels when compared to the control group.
Researchers concluded that “listening to music while undergoing extraction of the impacted mandibular third molar suppresses activity of the sympathetic nerves during incision, flap reflection, bone removal, and separation of the tooth crown, and relieves anxiety after treatment.” These findings match previous studies that have examined music as an aid to pain management in other areas. A 2016 pilot study published in the Indian Journal of Palliative Care looked at the effect of music therapy on pain and anxiety in cancer patients. Researchers reported that “a single session of music therapy is effective in significantly reducing cancer pain when used along with standard palliative care ...” A different study on fibromyalgia syndrome, published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, found that “listening to music ‘for the reason of ‘activation’ or ‘relaxation’” showed “beneficial effects on control over pain.” The team behind the recent JOMS study have stated that “future studies will focus on the mechanisms involved and methods to prevent the onset of systemic incidents.” There is still more research to consider in this area, but there may come a daywhen patients are encouraged to request their favorite song before treatment begins.
Summertime Gazpacho
Have a Laugh
Inspired by CookieAndKate.com
INGREDIENTS Gazpacho, an Andalusian soup made of blended vegetables and traditionally served cold, is the perfect refresher on a warm summer day. DIRECTIONS
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2 1/2 lbs ripe tomatoes; cored, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks 1 small cucumber; peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks 1 red bell pepper; cored, seeded, and sliced into ribbons 1 small Vidalia onion, peeled and cubed
1. Place a blender and mediummixing bowl on your workstation. 2. Divide the tomato chunks, cucumber pieces, and bell pepper slices evenly between blender and bowl. Place entire onion in blender. 3. Add basil, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to blender. Blend on low, gradually raising speed to high until smooth, about 2 minutes. 4. Add blender contents to bowl and mix until just broken up, about 10–20 seconds. 5. Let mixture sit in fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. Transfer to bowls and serve.
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1/4 cup basil leaves 1 clove garlic, peeled
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
● 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
● Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
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Westchester Office • 914-251-0313
2975 Westchester Avenue Suite G02 Purchase, NY 10577
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
914-251-0313 www.oralsurgeryofwestchester.com
INSIDE This Issue
PG 1
What’s the Going Rate on Teeth?
PG 2
Get the Most Out of BTS Season
The History of the Root Canal
PG 3
Should Dentists Know Their Patients’ Favorite Song?
Summertime Gazpacho
PG 4
Not Your Average Vacation Lodgings
ManCave Apartment/Airplane Hangar Geneva, Florida
When Airbnb was founded a little over a decade ago, the developers hoped to provide an alternative to traditional travel accommodations. Today, with annual revenue in the billions, the service is an industry unto itself. While most people use Airbnb to “live like a local” while traveling, you can find some truly wacky lodging options if you spend some time searching the platform. Here are just a few of the many contenders for the title of “Weirdest Airbnb in the U.S.” For ease of searching, the listings here have the same titles as they do on Airbnb. Brand NewStudio Earthship Taos, NewMexico
Airbnb super hosts Dan and Deborah have no shortage of quirky properties for rent — including yurts and treehouses — but their apartment fashioned out of an airplane hangar surely takes the cake. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a theme restaurant featuring eclectic aviation. Memorabilia lines the walls with a bar front and center, and the bed is in a loft high above the ground. Dog Bark Park Inn B&B Cottonwood, Idaho
Earthships, houses run by clean energy and featuring reused materials, are a fixture of the Taos area. This one, which looks almost like a crashing wave with a living space in its undertow, combines the rustic charm of truly getting away from it all with modern amenities likeWi-Fi and in-home laundry. It’s a truly unique living space surrounded by pristine nature and not far from the historic Taos Pueblo.
As you approach the Dog Bark Park Inn, you won’t have to guess if you’re in the right place. After all, howmany buildings are shaped like beagles? When describing the space on Airbnb, the hosts make no bones about who this rental is aimed for. “Stay in a giant dog!” they say. In addition to being inside a massive wooden dog, you’ll find canine-themed games, books, and more. Talk about ruffing it.
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