Salt!

Yesterday was a fantastic day for a cluple of reasons.

1) I saw the premier(e) Friday showing of the Angelina Jolie action-flick SALT!! SALT really was a great film despite the fact that Jolie has already starred in a host of similar butt-kicking movies, namely Tomb Raider and more recently, Wanted. What (I think) kind of distinguishes SALT from her other action flicks though is that she is never purposely dressed or made to appear overtly seductive, sexy, etc, as SALT seems to rely purely on tricky stunts, Hollywood action, and a number of predictable plot twists and curveballs.

2) Bust more related to teeth... one of my good friends with whom I watched SALT has decided to set her sights on Dental School! This is pretty exciting for me because there are only a handful of pre-dental students here at Harvard (case-in-point: the disappearance and random re-appearances of the Harvard Pre-Dental Society), and now I have a good friend with whom to work together to reach our common goal. It also feels good knowing that you influenced and really helped someone decide the course of their career-path (you're welcome Helen :D ). Good stuff.

Great day!

Also, fun fact, Angelina Jolie grew up and went to high school in my hometown in LA!

From the set of SALT (btw she has nice teeth yah?)

Eric

10 New Ways to Look Tan this Winter

Sometimes I feel that Americans (aka myself) are obsessed not only with the platonic ideal, but also with that perfect sun-kissed tan. Maybe for that reason alone I'll also start a blog about tanning.

Actually I probably won't ever do that, but just in case I change my mind in the future, I'll go ahead and reserve a creative domain just for tanning - maybe something different like tanningobsession.blogspot.com.

ANYWAYS, here is a piece I wrote in the fall of 2009 back when I comped SatireV (and yes I'm still in it!). I'm thinking of writing a similar piece but about teeth, naturally. I'm taking inspiration mostly from #2 on my list of how to look tan this winter.

Enjoy!


10 New Ways to Look Tan This Winter

1. Get into a nasty fight. Bruises always fade nicely.

2. Rinse your mouth every morning with Clorox. Extra concentrated. Your newly bleached teeth will contrast your skin.

3. Ask your friends if they like your new tan (even though we know you really don’t have one). Fool them with your confidence!

4. Accumulate enough blackheads so you look decently dark from far away.

5. Don’t hang out with your black, Hispanic, Asian, or Indian friends. Especially if you are white.

6. Who said that eye shadow was only for your eyes?

7. Don’t shower for 5 days. The accumulated dirt on your skin will trick your friends.

8. Reverse skin rejuvenation – glue dust onto your face. Did you know that dust is made up of dead skin cells?

9. Strip outside during the first blizzard. Frostbite will surely add some darker tones.

10. Get a hair transplant from your leg to your face. Now trim – don’t shave. Bonus points for added facial warmth. Extra bonus points if you’re a girl.


Eric

What (NOT) to eat/drink to keep your teeth white!

So I'm really excited because this is my first post actually related to the name of my blog!

A large part of teeth whitening is in fact the prevention of discoloration and the maintenance of currently white teeth.

In the future I will talk about all the non-natural ways of whitening your teeth - whitestrips, particular pastes, whitening kits, etc - but for now here are some things to keep in mind at your next meal or the next time you order that grande caramel macchiato from Starbucks.

1) A great number of beloved/routine/favorite American drinks stain tooth enamel. Coffee is the main culprit here, especially black coffee. Although I consider myself purely a social drinker when it comes to coffee (particularly iced coffee), TONS of people I know incorporate cups and cups of it into their morning and evening rituals. If you can't possibly cut down on coffee, try drinking it through a straw (iced coffee of course! please don't burn your throats) to avoid contact with the front of your teeth. Also, the darker the coffee, the more it dims your smile. Add some milk to your cup o' joe to lessen the effects!

2) Red wine also stains your teeth. An easy answer is to use a straw so that it bypasses your teeth. But yeah we all know how silly you would look sipping on that cabernet sauvignon through a straw on your Saturday night date or at your cousin's wedding. To avoid looking too dorky, discretely swish your mouth with water after you finish your glass (getting caught playing with water in your mouth is arguably less embarrassing than your hot date completely judging you for using a straw). Plus, you can hedge your bets that your buzzed family will be too distracted to catch you in the act - so swish away!

3) Dark sodas and fruit juices, especially cranberry and grape juice, will also cause teeth discoloration. Not only are these drinks already on the D-list for being extremely high in sugar, but also they may erode your enamel. Less (or NO) soda please!

All of these drinks stain your teeth slowly. Unfortunately, these stains become more and more noticeable as we age (a one-way train-ride, sorry kids!).

One of the BEST things you can do to keep your teeth white is of course daily maintenance. Now go brush your pearly whites!!

A general rule of thumb: anything that can cause a stubborn stain on a white cotton T-shirt most likely can stain your teeth.

Make sure your date doesn't see you like this! (see below)
or even worse, her blouse could be your front teeth. (solution = straw)!



photo from Douglass Green

Eric

The Tooth Fairy

So one of my little cousins had recently lost one of her first baby teeth and was SUPER excited that she called me to tell me all about it!! (She's five years old and utterly adorable).

Besides the fact of having a little hole in her smile, she couldn't stop raving about two VERY important things:

1) The Tooth Fairy
2) The dollar bills that the Tooth Fairy would leave behind under the pillow in exchange for the tooth

"The Tooth Fairy gives you DOLLAR BILLS?!?!" was my immediate reaction. Since when does she leave you anything more than a quarter?!

Many moons ago back when I was a little kid growing up in the 90s (nineteen 90s), if I was to expect a whole dollar bill under my pillow in the morning I would either have to scribble a note of desperation (these were limited because after my third note the Tooth Fairy disregarded my requests) or yank out four teeth during recess on the playground. Whether these yanked teeth were actually from my own mouth didn't cross my mind, or stop me.

But anyways, after I warned my little cousin not to be too greedy (anything more than one greenback is IRS deductible) when it comes to accepting gifts from mythological creatures such as the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, the Thanksgiving Turkey, or the Jewish Menorah, I started thinking about the origins of the Tooth Fairy. I also wondered briefly if inflation had anything to do with the increasing Tooth Fairy premiums.

After some brief yet hardcore research (shout-outs to Wikipedia and my middle school French textbook), here are my findings:

"La Petite Souris" or "the little mouse" is a French mouse that would scurry from pillow to pillow replacing children's teeth with small amounts of money overnight.

This tooth-collecting mouse most likely stems from an 18th century French fairy tale called "La Bonne Petite Souris," where a mouse changes into a fairy - or perhaps it's the other way around - to help a Queen defeat an evil King by hiding under his pillow at night and knocking out all of his chompers. Cool mouse!!

In other cultures, baby teeth are given/fed to animals so that the new teeth that come in will resemble that animal's tooth (think incisors and dogs).

Regardless of its origins, the Tooth Fairy is just a young child's distraction from the countless trials and tribulations of teenage and young-adult teeth - BRACES, WISDOOM TEETH REMOVAL, ROOT CANALS, JAW SURGERY. It's just another coming-of-age story.


Eric

By the skin of your teeth (idioms #1)

To do something by the skin of your teeth is to barely achieve or accomplish something almost to the point of failure.

i.e. She may have passed the first midterm of organic chemistry by the skin of her teeth, but only divine intervention can save her butt on tomorrow's final!

Not surprisingly organic chemistry is an infamous right of passage for many a spirited or disenfranchised pre-dental and pre-med student, but even more (un)shockingly, human teeth don't actually have skin.

!!!

That's right folks! The tooth consists of FOUR major tissues, none of which is the epidermis.

Here they are:

1) Tooth enamel - the visible part of your tooth. Can range from brown to yellow to grayish-white in color. Also the hardest part of your body!
2) Dentin - found underneath the enamel but surrounds the pulp. Most of a tooth is composed of this stuff.
3) Pulp - the center part of the tooth. Consists of nerves and living connective tissue. A root canal removes this stuff.
4) Cementum - covers the root/non-visible part of your teeth.



Thanks to the NIH for the hot pic

Eric