Stuff I like--Sensodyne pronamel toothpaste

One day at the dentist's for a check up and cleaning, I told the hygenist (Dr. Walton's wife) that my teeth were becoming increasingly sensitive. She recommended Sensodyne Pronamel Toothpaste, and gave me a sample. I love this stuff--and I use the gentle whitener variety. I drink a lot of coffee and tea, and that really messes up your tooth color--just look at the inside of a ceramic cup after you've reheated your coffee in the microwave. My teeth aren't sensitive anymore (and now that I've seen a few commercials I understand it better) and I think I'm making a little progress in the whitening department. It costs a little more than Crest, but it's worth it.

When I talk to people my age, I really notice their teeth more than their wrinkles or sun damage. Although regular dental care was coming in when we were children, there was no floridation of water, and my generation (including me) was careless about flossing, and it really wasn't emphasized. I had a very early case of periodontal disease (1977) that was caught by Dr. Heinzerling who sent me to a surgeon to have it removed. I am 70 years old and have all my teeth, even my wisdom teeth. Most people lose their teeth from poor care--especially gum disease. After a frenulectomy (removal of the muscle between my front teeth) at the same time as the gum surgery--I don't recommend having this double whammy--my teeth naturally shifted and there was room for all of them.

What's eating you now?

Our local Channel 10 provided a very interesting investigative report last night about dental implants, caps and crowns. Did you know that is one more "American product" that goes in your body that has been outsourced to China? These things are cemented to your teeth. There is NO safe level of lead for the human body, but after testing the work of 8 different labs that used Chinese suppliers, Channel 10 found one lab whose products contained lead--off the charts for safety and exposure for humans. There are 300 commercial dental labs in Ohio. Even if your dentist is making the crowns and caps himself--he's getting the material from one of these labs. They do not have to register with the FDA unless they have overseas operations. And 46 other states don't either. Dentists who use the foreign made material do so because it is 1/10th the cost of U.S. made.

Personally, I don't care what the CDC and FDA say about their complex guidelines, I know China doesn't have or doesn't respect contract law in its culture or background. It has penal law. Your commercial contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on--assuming these things are still on paper. If American companies chose to do business there, they'd better be ready to send over a small army of American trained inspectors and plant foremen to protect the American consumer, which would considerably add to the cost.

And how smart is this? The FDA doesn't enforce its own guidelines for foreign made dental work according the Channel 10's research; that is left to the Border Patrol--you know, those overworked, understaffed folks who also have to protect us from Mexican peasants infiltrating and Asian stowaways in ship containers.

The story was also in today's Columbus Dispatch.

Thank you, channel 10, for this research. But don't you wonder where the peer reviewed medical researchers are? Are they all working on poverty gap stories on government grants? And where are the legislators who pass our laws and supposedly require oversight for safety? Frankly, I think they need to get the lead out of some of their hearings on baseball players and talk show hosts, and start asking some tough questions about our food and medical products from China and drugs that come from India to be sold to our seniors on the government prescription drug plan.

Remember what happened to Fido and Fluffy!