Deep Freeze

Friday morning and finishing a nice bowl of hot oatmeal and blueberries (mandatory cup of coffee, but that goes without saying...:)They say the windchill all weekend long will keep things feeling like we're in the single digits. So this is global warming? Actually when you think about it these cold spells and bad storms more south are all part of the polar cap starting to melt...more water in the atmosphere, more moisture leading to shifts in precipitation and weather patterns. All very fascinating, but scary when you think that areas that at one time were fertile are drying up and produce less, well among other things, produce and food. Hope we all do our part for future generations. Speaking of future generations....

Did you know the number one disease of childhood is tooth decay?!?! When I was in dental school some 30 years ago, the talk and buzz was that "they" will soon develop a vaccine against dental caries. The main culprit in tooth decay is a bacteria called streptococcus mutans or s.mutans for short. Well the brains at Harvard (and other illustrious dental institutes of research) were real close...or so we all thought. 30 years later and still no such vaccine. No such cure in the fight against tooth decay. Believe it or not most of us are still using the same old prevention methods of 30+ years ago. You would think we would have come up with something better than brush your teeth after every meal, (we all do that , right?) watch your sugars and floss. Well there are some new methods that have been tested, are safe and effective!

Xylitol, a natural sugar, is an effective supplement that inhibits plaque and s.mutans from producing acids. Used several times throughout the day in children, as well as in adults, decay rates decrease and plaque formation has been shown to improve dramatically.Pediatric literature has also shown that xylitol supplementation in infants (as a nasal spray) markedly decreases ear infections. Xylitol can be found in some gums, lollipops and breath mints. It is even being produced to be used in regular baking! For more information check our web site at: www.amerpede.com