Detective night

Tomorrow I will be sitting in front of the telly from 9 to 5 and I don't mean working hours! Hopefully, my friends Dalziel and Pascoe, Bacardi and Coca Cola Light will help me make it through the night...

I simply LOVE the annual Detective Night! It's always a Saturday night, but if it was on a Sunday, it would be worth taking a holiday! There is this voting system: they will show four that people can choose from eight. It's always a big surprise.

In these wonderful British series, they quite often use 'person identification by means of the teeth'. Like many things, it's not that easy in real life....

In April 1986, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam returned to the US remains of an individual. The remains were burried, but many people doubted whether they were attributed to the right soldier. Many years later, the grave was exhumed. There was a part of a jaw, containing two teeth, with one being a wisdom tooth. Another soldier's name was brought forward and accepted, but -again- not by everybody. This soldier had all his wisdom teeth extracted before going to Vietnam....

Amanda Burton may silently witness an identification by means of the teeth, but she knows that -unlike fingerprints or the iris in your eyes-, teeth can change appearance, be extracted or be knocked out. Therefore the procedure is less reliable.

Victims in a major fire, however, may only be identified by their teeth....

So teeth are quite unique. That is why we have standard prices for crowns, fillings and other dental materials, but always use the word 'aproximately'. Some people need some extra treatment, others can do with less. There really is no way we can tell through the phone or e-mail. We need to see you in person for a more accurate quote.

Gossip

While reading my 10th Ian Rankin, I found Inspector John Rebus at the zoo, looking at the 'meercats'.

I hadn't the faintest idea which animals were meant! In Dutch, they are called 'stokstaartjes'. A literal translation into English would be something like 'little stick-tails'....

Why meerCATS? Do they look like cats? I know my cat would be insulted by that thought... They look more like hairy seals to me, hairy dogs to her.

But what do I look like to them?

Why do we, human beings, always worry about what other human beings will think of us and never about a meercat's thoughts? Probably because we think that meercats do not gossip...

"See that guy over there? No that one, second in line. Are you blind? The one with the big no-hose!" "Yep! What about Captain Hook?!" "Man, this one really should go for the extremest make-over of the century!" "That his wife?" "Think so." "Then Pinocchio must be loaded! Oh my God, look at him smiling now. See those teeth?"

You should not listen to a stupid meercat (nor to a stupid neighbour or colleague), but perhaps you yourself are not satisfied with the looks of your teeth. Then you should come to our clinic and let us fix the problem.

"Told you so, he's loaded! See what he's done to his teeth? Must have cost a fortune!"

A Duck tale

(Photo by Diane Finlayson)

This is Donald... Donald is brave and fast. He is the bravest and fastest duck on earth. In fact, his nickname is DUCKMAN! Like in

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo DUCKMAN! DUCKMAN!
(This is supposed to sound like the main theme of Batman....)

Within a split second, Donald can do things other ducks can only dream of. Uncle Scrooge has ordered him to find the cheapest dental clinic in the world, so off he goes!

His trip around the world of dentistry first brings him to China, where Uncle Scrooge can save some extra money because they do not do anaesthetics there... For a few wonderful moments, Donald considers ending the trip right there and then.

He travels on to Thailand and then to Eastern Europe. In some waterproof bags under his wings are hundreds of quotes. He has highlighted some of the text:

GET A LIFETIME GUARANTEE!!! Provided that you visit our clinic in Beijing every month.

TWENTY CROWNS WITHIN ONE HOUR!!! Quality checks are forbidden.

CHEAP DENTAL IMPLANTS!!! Made by my nephew, who is a mechanic in Saskatchewan.

FULL DENTURES FOR A SMALL PRICE!!! My grandmother wore them for years.

When he gives them to Scrooge, his uncle explodes in rage. Donald ducks just in time and off he goes again!


This time he takes Daisy with him. They start and stay in Bulgaria, spend some lovely days at the Black Sea and a few weeks later, Uncle Scrooge has his cheap gold teeth.

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. (Andy Warhol)

(photo by Diane Finlayson)

Some things never change. Squirrels have been cute for ages!!!

Other things change a lot...

In 1901, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen received the Nobel Prize for inventing x-rays.

78 Years later, Sir Godfrey N. Hounsfield invented the CT-scan. It made him another Nobel Prize winner.

After that, several inventors took it another step further.


We have a digital volume tomograph . It gives a 3-dimensional image of the teeth and jaw. One look at that image and we see whether your jawbone allows implantation and exactly where to insert them.

I always think it looks like a time machine. Every time I see this photo, I start fantasizing about being shoved into that thing and then floating to a moment back in time.

I hope that moment will be the early 17th Century when Rubens was painting his perfectly shaped women.

Returning into the 21st Century, I would land at the National Gallery in front of my own painting....

The seven year itch

"Life is simple! When there's an itch, you scratch."

Apart from this bird, who ever said that life would be simple? Sometimes scratching could cause a major problem, like an infection or a new wound.

Poking is a bit like scratching. When something in your mouth is missing, you just have to explore the area with your tongue, don't you?

Please don't....

After an extraction, a clot forms on the wound. Playing with that clot can make it break off and delay the healing process. It can also cause infections. Remember my other blog? 600 bacteria or more can be spotted in your mouth and many of them could be living on your tongue. They would love to go on an excursion to 'The Hole' and some may never want to return home again.

Getting used to a 'new tooth' also takes a while. Perhaps it does not feel safe to bite, or maybe you hear yourself talk in a very 'funny' way. Perhaps the veneer feel and look 'bulky'.

Just take your time and in most cases, the uncomfortable feeling will pass. If not, you better get in touch with the treating dentist. Most things can be fixed.

However, if you desperately want an extracted tooth back because you cannot live without it, we can only put it in a small jewelry box for you. Modern dentistry can perform small miracles, but in this case you really will have to accept the gap, denture, bridge or implant...

Oral bacteria

Recently, information about 600 known bacteria living in the human mouth were published as a product of 10 years of work from researchers at King's College, London and The Forsyth Institute in Boston.

600 known bacteria....
I really do not want to think about all the unknown!!!

It is great when scientists discover things like bacteria and, of course, DNA.

In a small village in The Netherlands, in 1994, a stewardess was found dead in her grandmother's house. It grew into one of the most 'famous' Dutch murder cases. Two brothers in law spent an undeserved seven years in prison. Only this week, a 33-years-old man was arrested. The most important technical lab finally worked some of the enormous arrears and matched the DNA at the murder scene with this man's.

Back to the oral bacteria...

Dental plaque is composed of oral bacteria that have attached themselves to the tooth and gum surfaces, and to each other. It is the major cause of periodontal disease, which affects the gums, bone and other supporting tissues of the teeth. Gum inflammation is very common and 10% of the people suffer from the kind that causes loss of jaw bone and teeth. Very often, there are no side effects noticable until it is 'too late', so please have your dentist check for periodontal disease regurarly!

Spot the poodle in this picture...

When we bought our poodle (for an insignificant 600 Euros), he was just a few weeks old. His breeder had named him 'Puppy'. We knew he would not stay a puppy forever, so we started looking for a real cute and unique name. In the end, we chose for Remi. During the first of many, many long walks (after which it did what it had to do on our carpet...), we were flabbergasted by how many people already seemed to know our dog. It turned out that at least six other dogs in the neighbourgood had the same name..

Anyway, it will be clear that our Remi is a Poodle, a DWARF Poodle to be exact, and not a German Shepherd Dog. The latter was no option, because my partner is allergic to animals that loose their hair. My mother in law, however, does have a huge long-haired German Shepherd Dog. Because she also was our puppysitter, we made sure that the 'guys' became best friends. It was very scary to see them play. Dogs often do that with their mouth wide open. We were absolutely positive that Gayko could and would swallow the Poodle.

So far so good, but Remi has definitely developed some kind of severe dog schizophrenia. When he is with my mother in law, he acts like a Poodle. He follows his leader (being Gayko) and would not dare to investigate and partly eat the contents of a handbag. At home, however, there is no Gayko and so Remi takes over his duties and allows himself all sorts of extras. His bark even gets just as low and loud as Gayko's....

When interested in dental implants, please choose for someone who has studied the field intensely and also has extensive experience in it. A common dentist may insert a few implants per year, but this does not make him/her an implantologist!

Down by the riverside

About two weeks ago, at a tourist vessel on the Oosterschelde, I met Cindy. It was a very special encounter. Cindy was a friendly, funny and intelligent woman.

I must admit that having a brother with Down probably was the only reason for starting a conversation with her. However, just like my brother, Cindy comfortably brought me 'back to basics', back to the things that really matter.

In the 19th Century, John Langdon Down classified what we now know as 'his syndrome' as 'the Mongolian type of Idiot'.

Now I know Mongolians who have behaved stranger than Cindy and my brother:
Genghis Khan's empire ranged from the Yellow Sea to the Black Sea, yet he never thought of building a dental clinic in Varna...
Kublai Khan defeated his uncle Nyan. Because royal blood should not be spilled, he ordered that Nyan's body be rolled in a carpet and thrown about until he died....

Non-Mongolians can also act very strange:
Queen Elizabeth II spends several sessions every month sitting to have her portrait painted. "Now then", she has been known to say as she enters the room, "with or without teeth?"

Toothache burns

Years ago, -long before some real genius casted Robson Green for the tv-series 'Wire In The Blood'- I fell in love with profiler Dr Tony Hill. Ever since, I read every book by Val McDermid. I still prefer the Tony Hill books, but also 'eat' the rest.

To cut a long and exciting story short, 'The Grave Tattoo' is about poet William Wordsworth and Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian. Once again I think Val McDermid has surpassed herself. The book even made me want to try to read something by Wordsworth and search for a copy of the movie Pandaemonium (about him and fellow-poet Coleridge).




Poetry is not my best friend, but this is quite nice:
Oh! what's the matter?
what's the matter?
What is't that ails young Harry Gill?
That evermore his teeth they chatter,
Chatter, chatter, chatter still.

Of course, this is not taken from the most beautiful poem by William Wordsworth, but these are words I can understand. Harry Gill just needs a new set of dentures! (In our clinic this would cost approx. 400 Euros per jaw.)

Then I found Robert Burns:
My curse upon your venom'd stang,
That shoots my tortur'd gums alang,
An' thro' my lug gies mony a twang,
Wi' gnawing vengeance,
Tearing my nerves wi' bitter pang,
Like racking engines!

When fevers burn, or argues freezes,
Rheumatics gnaw, or colics squeezes,
Our neibor's sympathy can ease us,
Wi' pitying moan;
But thee-thou hell o' a' diseases
- Aye mocks our groan.

Adown my beard the slavers trickle
I throw the wee stools o'er the mickle,
While round the fire the giglets keckle,
To see me loup, While, raving mad, I wish a heckle
Were in their doup! In a' the numerous human dools,
Ill hairsts, daft bargains, cutty stools,

Or worthy frien's rak'd i' the mools,
- Sad sight to see! The tricks o' knaves, or fash o'fools,
Thou bear'st the gree! Where'er that place be priests ca' hell,
Where a' the tones o' misery yell,
An' ranked plagues their numbers tell,
In dreadfu' raw, Thou, Toothache, surely bear'st the bell,

Amang them a'! O thou grim, mischief-making chiel,
That gars the notes o' discord squeel,
Till daft mankind aft dance a reel
In gore, a shoe-thick, Gie a' the faes o' Scotland's weal
A townmond's toothache!

In case of a common toothache, please do not go to Bulgaria for ten days. Just visit a local dentist. If he/she advices root canal treatment and a crown, then come to our clinic! It will save you quite a lot of money!

Pain

As of last Thursday, I have a tattoo.
The artist's name is Paul God. That is probably why I trusted him with my arm...

Why a snake (or is it a worm?)
And why the crown?

Trust me, you don't want to know! It is an inside joke between my partner and I. Which reminds me of a 70's or 80's song:

They're coming to take me away haha. They're coming to take me away hoho. To the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time.
And I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats.
And they're coming to take me away.... HAHA!

Did it hurt? Well.... no. Just for half a minute or so, before my body started to make antibodies. But we are not talking about toothache-like ache here, - it just felt like being stung by a bunch of baby bees.

People often ask me about the afterpain of an implantation. I have not experienced it myself, but what I do know is that we give our patients two painkillers and the very vast majority only uses none at all or just one.

'No pain, no gain' is what they say. We are always willing to take up that challenge!

If the ball is fast, you better be faster...

When I saw this photo, I could not help wondering what would have happened if the photographer had not stepped aside in time...

He would probably show up at our clinic, asking for a dental implant or two... three...

If you do not smoke and are willing to spend enough time and effort on the daily maintenance, dental implants are the perfect solution for missing teeth. Prices in other than the Eastern European countries vary, but usually travelling to Bulgaria will save you approximately 50-60%.

Now what if the ball hit someone who already had implants?

If the photographer wore a mouthguard, there probably would be no or just little damage. The crowns or the bridge on implants could be replaced. However, if the implant itself was damaged and hard to remove, another implant would probably be placed next to it.

For almost every dental problem there is a solution. Let us be the photographers of your teeth and tell you all about it!

True colours

One of my favourite songs is 'True Colours'. You will probably know it, because Cyndi Lauper made it into the charts: "I see your true colors shining through."

The first time ever I heard Cyndi perform this song, I immediately liked it. I bought it on LP, recorded it on tape and, quite recently, I downloaded it from the Internet and bought a DVD.

As much as I like Cyndi's version, it was not until I heard the Dutch singer/comedian Lenette van Dongen that I fell in love with the song. Cyndi's voice is pure gold, but for me Lenette's equals the rarer and more valuable platinum. Also, even more important, Lenette gives me the feeling that she is the kind of person who can see people's true colors shining through. I am not saying that every singer should have experienced the things he/she sings about, but it sure makes a difference if they give me that feeling. I have always found it very unnatural for a 12-year-old child star to sing about the love of his or her life....

The true, natural color white is not the Tom Cruise white. Veneers are great, but can look very artificial if the color, shade or translucency is not right.

Our dental lab specialises in cosmetic dentistry and daily processes veneers. By the way, when comparing prices, please make sure that it is about porcelain veneers. Porcelain may be more expensive than composite, it also last much longer. Being too cost-conscious can lead to big disappointments. Veneers can chip, fall off, discolor, break or simply do not meet your expectations.

You know what they say:

A bad bargain is dear at a farthing...

All kinds of everything

Hungary, Poland, Macedonia, Slovenija, Serbia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic....


They will all be represented at the next Eurovision Song Contest (20th, 22nd and 24th May in Belgrade).

In 2008, Ireland has replaced Johnny Logan by Dustin the Turkey....

I bet next year Jennifer Saunders will be representing the UK. Of course she will be dressed as the Fairy Godmother from Shrek.

The innocent young ones (not Cliff Richard but girls like German Nicole and Belgian Sandra Kim) are gone and replaced by
- transsexuals
- hardrock groups
- kissing Russians
and -last but not least-
- people who cannot sing at all
(You do remember 'E-mail from Beeeeeeerrrrrllliiiiinn' by Double Date, don't you?)

Nowadays, a bare footed Sandie Shaw would score 'zero points' and Abba would probably meet their premature Waterloo at Belgrade.

It is not only at the Eurovision Song Contest that Eastern Europe grows in prominence. Foreign investors know where to go. Industries are gaining ground and productivity is high. Dental treatment, combined with holidays, can be very attractive because of the relatively low costs. So many choices and only one budget to spend...

Don't worry, -just like Bucks Fizz I can help with 'making your mind up'.

Teeth can kill

During my wonderful short vacation, I visited an impressive theme park about the North Sea Flood of 1953. There was quite a lot of water there and some of it contained well-trained seals....
At 'home' (which was a caravan), I read a short story by Stephen King. It was called 'Chattered Teeth'.

A man notices an unusual pair of large metal 'chattery teeth' (a children's wind up toy) in a store. He is told that they have been damaged and no longer work. He takes them home anyway.
When the man gives a ride to a hitchhiker, the guy tries to kill him. During the struggle, the teeth come to life to do some killing themselves... They disappear (with the body of the hitchhiker), but nine months later, the salesman and the teeth are reunited....

This was all made up by the King of Horror, Mr Stephen King, but....

In 2004, a 16-year-old boy in Bradford unexpectedly died.
In 2005, a middle-aged, healthy man in Florida suddenly passed away.
In 2007, in Maryland, a 12-year-old homeless boy lost and never regained consciousness.
They all died from an infection that started with an abscessed tooth. The infection had spread to their brains.

You do not have to be afraid of chattery teeth, but please go see your dentist when there is an abscess!