Weird Dental History Highlight: “Tooth Worms”
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN getting cavities as long as there have been people, and people before modern dentistry had some strange theories…
Your Prescriptions and Your Oral Health
MOST MEDICATIONS come with a list of possible side effects, including side effects that impact oral health. These side…
Why Aren’t Teeth Always Straight?
THE BENEFITS OF having straight teeth are many. Studies indicate that people with straight teeth are seen as more…
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…
Functions of Different Parts of Your Braces
IF YOU ARE or have been an orthodontic patient, you’ve probably wondered what the different parts of braces are for. Some…
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…