Sabal General Dentistry - February 2020

Sabal General Dentistry - February 2020

February 2020

2222 Airline Rd., Suite A4, Corpus Christi, TX 78414 |

www.SabalDental.com

| (361) 853-8999

Rules of Dating How Many Dates Before the First Kiss?

There are a lot of cheesy love stories that start with a guy seeing a pretty girl across a crowded room,

DawnEtta had been planning to go back home to Northern Idaho, but she decided to move to a town near Salt Lake City so we could keep seeing each other. Halfway through the summer, DawnEtta told me that her paperwork to apply for Utah State — which was two hours away from Salt Lake City — had arrived and she needed to fill them out right away. Unless, of course, I could give her a reason why she shouldn’t go back to Utah State. She looked at me expectantly, and I knew I had to give her a good reason. A month and three weeks after our first date at Elite Hall, I drove us back out to the abandoned barn where we’d had our first kiss. I sang, recited poetry, then got down on one knee and I asked her to marry me. She said yes. We got married just a few months later, on Aug. 14, three months and two weeks after our first date. Needless to say, we didn’t waste any time. Last year, DawnEtta and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary. I’ve often told my kids that true love is when you want to spend every waking moment with another person. When all you want to do is call and hang out with someone, then it’s true love. That’s how I felt about DawnEtta from the first night we went dancing. She made my whole world brighter. We always had fun together, and I couldn’t imagine spending a single day without her. DawnEtta supported me as we both waited tables when I was working through dental school. She was with me when we moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where I finished dental school and cheered me on when I started my first practice in Idaho. Together we raised five kids and took in two foster kids. DawnEtta is an amazing mom, a loving wife, and my best friend in the world.

nudging his buddy, and saying, “I’m going to marry her.” These stories are nice enough, but that never happens in real life. I certainly didn’t see my future wife across a crowded room and know she was the one!

Instead, I saw DawnEtta across a parking lot.

DawnEtta and I met while we were attending Utah State University. She was studying to be a teacher, and I’d already been accepted to dental school. We happened to live in the same apartment complex, and I saw her for the first time in that lot, talking to some guy. After she left, I went over to the guy and asked two important questions: Were they dating and was she nice? No, they weren’t dating, and yes, she was very nice. That was enough for me to ask her out. Our first date was country dancing at Elite Hall, a dance hall in Utah. I know country swing and we danced all night. It was a wonderful time. For our second date, we went climbing in Logan Canyon. Strapped together in harnesses, we made our way across a precarious bridge 150 feet above the ground. We reached the middle of the bridge right as the sun was setting. For our third date, I knew I had to make it extra special. You can’t kiss until the third date, after all. We drove out to an abandoned barn on the west end of the valley where I played guitar and read mushy poetry. It was a very romantic evening. And yes, we did have our first kiss that night.

Once the summer started, I moved to Salt Lake City to work in construction before dental school started.

–Dr. Chad Thompson

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VALENTINE’S LESSONS

Talking to Your Adolescent About Relationships

Respecting Others Dr. David Anderson, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, believes it’s especially important to talk to adolescents about respecting boundaries. “One of the big lessons we want to be sending to kids at any age is that there are two people to consider,” he writes, explaining that adolescents tend to only focus on their own feelings and need to learn to consider how their crush may feel about them. This awareness might prevent them from overstepping someone else’s comfort zone. Respecting Themselves At the same time, kids and teens should know the importance of respecting their own feelings. Setting boundaries can be especially important when your child is confronted with an unwanted Valentine’s Day card or request for a date and feels pressured to reciprocate. “Boundary setting is imperative to learn during adolescence because it is a time of identity formation,” writes Dr. Marilyn Price-Mitchell in Psychology Today. “Healthy boundaries allow teens to feel respected, valued, and empowered to build positive relationships in their lives.” It also helps them handle uncomfortable social situations with grace and maturity. Crushes and first dates are a part of growing up, as is learning how to contribute to healthy relationships. Much like a first step or learning to drive, patient, loving parental support makes all the difference.

With Valentine’s Day approaching, stores are filled with chocolates, stuffed animals, and cards for significant others. Love is in the air! Even though you may not realize it, your

kids may also be feeling the pressure. Crushes, dates, and broken hearts are part of their lives, too,

but they may struggle to talk with you about it. Thankfully, developmental experts have weighed

in on how to approach these important and delicate conversations.

No Laughing Matter Judith Myers-Walls, professor emeritus of child development at Purdue, urges parents not to treat their kids’ crushes as silly. We may know these early expressions of love aren’t that serious in the long run, but to an adolescent, the emotions are very powerful. “They are very easily embarrassed about those feelings,” Myers-Walls observes, “so parents and other adults should be respectful and not tease about those issues.” Rather than make kids feel ashamed of these early romantic feelings, let them know you’re there to talk to them about it.

OUR PATIENTS SAY IT BEST

“Best dentist I’ve ever been to. They made me so comfortable during fillings and cleanings. They really do show that they love what they do and are very caring toward their patients. I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else! And a plus is that the wait times have always been less than 10 minutes!” – Jenny Phu “I had a tooth extracted, and staff was very informative and knew exactly what they were doing. They made me feel at ease and very comfortable. I was very lucky to have had the professionalism they provide. Thank you, all.” –Balde De Leon

“I am so grateful that I finally found a dental office with such expertise in their field. Being from a military family, I have been seen by dentists from many states, and I can truly say that Sabal Dental really cares and goes above and beyond for their patients.” –Martha Fuentes

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While initial tests on the water in Colorado Springs and other cities in the 1930s didn’t reveal anything suspicious, tests with more advanced equipment later revealed high levels of fluoride. This revelation, combined with earlier observations that brown stained teeth were resistant to decay, led some researchers to posit that lower levels of fluoride in the water might help prevent

How Fluoridation Became a Public Health Achievement THE MOMENT OF TOOTH

Seventy-five years ago, Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first city in America to intentionally add small levels of fluoride to their water supply. They did so as part of an experiment to see if ingesting fluoride would prevent tooth decay, also called dental caries, as indicated in previous studies. The experiment proved a landslide success in preventive dental care, and today, fluoridated water is available to over 200 million Americans. The basis for the experiment in Grand Rapids began 44 years prior. In 1901, a young dental graduate student named Frederick McKay opened a practice in Colorado Springs and was shocked to find that many locals had unsightly brown stains on their teeth. McKay couldn’t find the cause in any medical journals, so he began to investigate. Progress was slow, but between 1909 and 1915, McKay and another researcher found that the stains developed sometime around the eruption of adult teeth and that teeth with “Colorado brown stain” were incredibly resistant to decay. McKay theorized that the discoloration might have been caused by something in the drinking water.

staining while still fighting tooth decay. After preliminary tests, researchers finally tested their theory in Grand Rapids in 1945. The tooth decay rate among children in Grand Rapids dropped 60% in just 11 years. This led other cities across America to adopt the practice. By 2008, 72% of the U.S. population had access to fluoridated water. For the first time in the history of dentistry, dentists had a tool to prevent tooth decay instead of just tools to treat it after the fact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called fluoridation of water one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. Seventy-five years after the experiment in Grand Rapids, the American Dental Association is celebrating the monumental impact of fluoridated water on dental health. Even though it may have taken Frederick McKay’s research nearly four decades to come to fruition, the results have been more than worth it.

Have a Laugh

Date Truffles

Valentine’s Day is all about love … and chocolate. Enjoy these chocolate peanut butter date truffles with your date this Valentine’s Day.

Ingredients • 1 lb medjool dates, pitted (about 1 1/2 cups) • 1/2 tsp sea salt • Warm water

• 1/4 cup peanut butter • 1 cup bittersweet or dark chocolate, chopped • 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted

Directions 1. Using a food processor, blend dates and sea salt until dough can be formed into a ball. Slowly add enough warm water to mixture to thicken dough. 2. Roll dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Freeze for 20–30 minutes. 3. In microwave, warm 1/4 cup peanut butter for 30 seconds, then drizzle peanut butter on top of balls. Freeze balls for another 20 minutes. 4. Meanwhile, in microwave, warm chocolate with coconut oil until melted. Stir well. 5. Coat balls in chocolate and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. 6. Top with additional salt and freeze for 30 minutes. Serve at room temperature. Inspired by The Minimalist Baker

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Inside This Issue

No Time to Waste Page 1 Crushes, Valentine’s Day, and Parenting Page 2 Hear From Our Happy Patients! Page 2 Fluoridation: The 1st Step Toward Preventive Dental Care Page 3 Date Truffles Page 3 A Cheesy Myth About the Moon Page 4

The Story Behind the Myth THE MOON ISN’T MADE OF CHEESE?

We’ve all heard the silly statement before: “The moon is made of cheese!” Although we may not fall for it as adults, when we were children, our eyes twinkled with possibility as we gazed up at the full moon and wondered if it really could be made of cheese. While science says no, it’s still an entertaining phrase that holds a valuable lesson for adults and children alike. The motif first appeared in folklore during the High Middle Ages as a proverb invented by a French rabbi. The full phrase is actually “The moon is made of green cheese,” and serves to warn against the dangers of credulity, or the willingness to believe in things that aren’t based on reasonable proof or knowledge. The simplest version of the phrase’s origin tells of a cunning fox that advised a starving wolf to search

for food among humans. The wolf listened, and he was attacked by the humans. The wolf escaped, and in his fury, he attempted to kill the fox. To save himself, the

fox promised the wolf that he’d show him the location of an abundant food supply. That night, under the light of a full moon, the fox led the wolf to a well and pointed

to the reflection of the full moon on the water’s surface deep in the well, claiming it was cheese. The hungry wolf jumped into the well to eat the cheese, forever trapping himself. Thus, the fox successfully escaped the wolf’s wrath.

As with any ancient proverb, variations of the story have developed over time, but its message has remained the same: Don’t believe everything you’re told. In today’s world of oversaturated information and advice, this is a valuable tip to follow, no matter what age you are.

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