A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword (Robert Burton)

"ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE!!!!!

My name is d'Artagnan. D'ARTAGNAN! Unlike my friends Athos, Porthos and Aramis, I'm not a musketeer.

We're made up by a French guy called Alexandre Dumas. Lots of films were made about us. In 1999, a chap called Gordon Carpenter played Athos. It was well acted but some critics thought the gap in his upper front teeth was too obvious.

As if there were veneers back then!


Pierre Fauchard, another French guy and founder of modern dentistry, wasn't even born yet.

Did you know he was the first to think a patient should be seated in a comfortable chair? Until then, patient and dentist sat on the floor with the patient's head between the dentists legs, holding on to the dentists knee's for support. Pierre thought hat this was not respectful towards women.

He also thought a dentist should stand behind instead of in front of his patient, to avoid fear.

Musketeers don't know fear! Well OK... real musketeers don't!"






Anyway, I prefer The Two Mouseketeers. Doesn't Tom look fearless here?."

Temporary but definitely false

After the removal of your teeth, it takes several months for your jawbone and gums to heal. You don't want to walk around toothless, not even for one day, so your dentist will fit a temporary denture.

Don't worry... Although they will look very unnatural, they won't look like these.

Temporary...hm... sounds as if your natural teeth will be returning after some time. Of course, they won't.

As your jaw heals, the temporary denture will start to become loose and need adjusting. This is not included in our price and costs approx. 100 - 150 (UK, where dentist charge sky-high prices) Euros.

Your long-term denture can be fitted after 6 months.

A boy and his mother stood looking at a dentist's showcase.
"If I had to have false teeth, mother, I'd take that pair," said the small boy, pointing.
"Hush, Willie," interposed the mother quickly, shaking his arm, "Haven't I told you it's bad manners to pick your teeth in public?"

Oranges are not the only fruits

These Eastern European guys already were playing for money outside the Amsterdam Central Station when I was so much younger than today...
It's another example of the famous Dutch tolerance. These musicisians are not allowed to be there, but no police officer will consider sending them away. By now, they're part of the very unique Amsterdam environment.

I've always heard it's a good spot. Homeless people sell their local newspaper and human statues wait patiently until they can scare someone to death...

Sometimes things change, other times they don't. Eating fruits and drinking their juices always was and will be healthier than eating french fries and drinking Coca Cola. People, however, now are talking about how acidic orange juice is and that it can lead to tooth decay.

It has been proven that orange juice can take the protective enamel off the teeth. After you drank a glass of juice, a drink of water is recommended. Don't brush your teeth straight after as this can also take enamel off. Thinning enemal gets stained easier and then you may need a teeth whitening.

In the USA you probably can be sued for giving someone an orange.....
One day in Contract Law class, Professor Jepson asked one of his better students, "Now if you were to give someone an orange, how would you go about it?"
The student replied, "Here's an orange."
The professor was livid. "No! No! Think like a lawyer!"
The student then recited, "Okay, I'd tell him, 'I hereby give and convey to you all and singular, my estate and interests, rights, claim, title, calim and advantages of and in, said orange, together with all its rind, juice, pulp, and seeds, and all rights and advantages with full power to bite, cut, freeze and otherwise eat, the same, or give the same away with and without the pulp, juice, rind and seeds, anything herein before or hereinafter or in any deed, or deeds, instruments of whatever nature or kind whatsoever to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding..."

It's magic

Last Saturday, when Russia (Dutch coach...) beat the Dutch national soccer team with 3-1, I was in the theatre.

'Handsome Hans' (Klok) creates illusions. He does card tricks (of course he does!), but also floats one of the girls in the air, has his body split, locks up a lady in a cage and frees another lady from the same cage etc. etc. In Las Vegas, his assistant was Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson. Unfortunately, she did not come with him to Holland. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic evening and there was absolutely no way that I could see through the tricks.

Many kids and some adults wear braces. Usually they hate them, even the 'invisible' ones. By the force of braces teeth move about a millimeter per month. This means you will have to wear them for quite a long time before your teeth are straight.

With dental veneers, we create an illusion. Teeth will appear straight, even or white again, and the gap that has been there for ages seems to have vanished.

Unlike Hans Klok, we'll gladly unveil our 'trick'.

Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down (Ray Bradbury)

Cheetahs can purr very loudly. This makes them sound like what we always say they are: big cats.

However, they also capture their prey by chasing it over 10-30 meters with a top speed of about 97 km/hr. I guess, on a good day, my lazy cat Billie has a top speed of 3 and gives up after just as many meters...

Hidden danger....

Many at-home teeth whitening kits contain much more than the EU recommended 6% of hydrogen peroxide and 18% of carbamide peroxide. Dentist James Goolnik, Vice-President of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, says: “They are sold as ‘safe’ but can easily harm someone, especially if a dentist has not advised the patient on whether their teeth are even suitable for whitening. The public must understand that these gels, with such a high amount of chemicals, could burn people’s gums or damage teeth permanently.”

Only a dentist can judge whether your teeth are suitable for a whitening procedure. In our clinic, we use ultrasonic teeth whitening. The price is 199 Euros.

As they said to the DJ: put the needle on the record!!

I take blood thinners and so, every 8 weeks, I have to go to the hospital to have my blood checked. I don't mind. Usually, the only trace of this bi-monthly abuse is a tiny needle mark in my arm, but even that miraculously disappears after just a few days.


Thinking of needles going into my gums (I have dentures for 30 years now) still gives me the creeps. I've never been needle-phobic, but it was close! And I remember one time when a specialized dentist tried to extract one of my brother's teeth. Frank has Down's Syndrome and when he is afraid, he is very, very strong. They tried everything: distraction, holding him down with three men, laughing gas... It all worked fine until... he saw the needle. In the end, they removed the tooth under general anaesthetics. That worked, because he gets the anti-flu virus every year, so he is used to getting injected in his arm.

Needles are used to take blood, to sedate, to give fluids and medication (intravenous drip), give insulin etc. etc. etc., so if you are terrified by the sight or thought of them, you have a huge problem and so has your doctor. Officially it is called Belonephobia, the fear of sharp objects.
For good information: http://www.needlephobia.info/

Dream on baby

"Yesterday I lost a tooth. It's somewhere in the desert now, under a few grains of sand."

Camels have 34 teeth, just 2 more than their owners.
Let me rephrase that.
Camels have 34 teeth, just 2 more than their owners should have. (Perhaps the rest are in the beard....)

Ever had a dream about your teeth falling out? The dream was probably fed by the fear of getting unattractive and/or old. This theory is backed up by recent research that has revealed the menopause influences the frequency of those dreams.

I never had one, not even during my long, long menopause. I did frequently dream about walking in deserts though. I was feeling hot, hot hot and no water in sight (so I took my partner's that was on her night table...)

If you suffer from bad reoccuring dreams, maybe 'dream pre-programming' can help. A hypnotist will tell you that when you fall asleep you see a button. By pushing this button you will enter "DreamScape", which is a world in which you will have complete control.

Hm.... sounds nice. It just makes me wonder if self-dreamt water tastes as good as stolen water....

Amazing Grace

In Greek mythology, they are goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. In most paintings (like this one by Raffael), there are three: Beauty, Mirth and Good Cheer. In Roman mythology, these daughters of the great god Zeus are called the Three Graces.



Are You Being Served? is one of the most famous British sitcoms. It is about the staff in a classy department store called Grace Brothers. 'Young Mr Grace' must have been the charming one. At the age of 99 (rough estimate), he always had one or two gorgeous blondes at his side.

One of the employees was Mr Humphries, played by the late John Inman.

Now John Inman had these teeth.... Better say he had this gap. I guess it was his trade mark, because when he grew older, the gap became bigger and Mr Inman did nothing to hide it.

No doubt that veneers would have solved the problem, but then again, - what problem?

In Dutch, such a gap is called a 'cycle shed'. I always think it adds something to someone's personality, but maybe the person him/herself hates it!

In the USA, two students found out that having good or bad teeth only seems to affect women's earnings. Basically, the authors say, women seem to be held to a higher standard of beauty.... This does not just apply to teeth. Ever seen a bold, badly dressed, fat bank manager's secretary?

You know I'm bad, I'm bad....

"Actually, I am called Mr Nice Guy.



This is just a suit I got from the costume hire shop. I asked for a Big Bird costume, but those were all gone.



I am in a foreign country, waiting for the taxi to take me to the dentist for the second part of my treatment.

I am here for only 4 workdays. Yesterday they took out all my teeth. Today 24 dental implants are going in and tomorrow 15 crowns go on top. When I asked after the missing 9, they told me that -for the price they were charging me-, I should not ask such difficult questions. The next day, I fly home again.

Without the suit of course. This is just because I don't want anyone to see me walking around toothless."

Not our style....

When dental implants are planned, we tell our patients to have their teeth extracted in their home country. This is because the jaw needs to heal for 6-8 weeks. Then they need to come to Bulgaria twice: 1x 10 days and 1x 14 days. In between, again, is a healing period. They'll be wearing temporary dentures/crowns, so they won't need to dress up like this guy....

Let's comb the crowd and pick one out

"On our block all of the guys call her flamingo
Cause her hair glows like the sun
And her eyes can light the sky
When she walks she moves so fine like a flamingo"
(Manfred Mann)

In the continuing series 'Do these animals have teeth?', today we discuss the flamingo; pretty in pink.

Well... when they're young, they must have at least one, because the chick breaks its own shell with its egg tooth.

A 121 million year old fossilized egg, complete with well-developed embryo, was discovered in northeastern China in 2004. This bird has no egg tooth, indicating that they are a more recent innovation. Prior to the development of the egg tooth, baby birds likely used sharp claws to break through their shells

On the Internet they say that grown up flamingos have comblike 'teeth', and because the word is between apostrophs, I doubt it, if we could crown them.... There are 23 to the inch in Andean flamingos and 54 to the inch in James flamingos. The poor Chilean flamingo, however, only has around 13 teeth to the inch.

Human beings have 32 teeth, but not to the inch! If they did, one could really speak of crowded teeth!

Saint Apollonia

Each year on 9th February, Saint Apollonia is memorized. I had an aunt who was called Plonie and until today I never knew where that name came from.

In the year 249, when Decius was emperor of Alexandria, the greatest attack upon Christianity up to that time was launched. For the first time, an emperor called for its total extermination.
To serve their gods, the emperor's followers slaughtered Christians. Apollonia was also seized and all her teeth were knocked out. Then they tried to force her to worship and sacrifice in favour of the emperor. They made a fire and threatened to burn her alive. She asked for a moment of prayer and when they gave in, she ran into the fire. A double crown of martyrdom and virginity showed in the flames.

The word "saint" comes from the Latin word sanctus (holy).
Saints are rewarded with the Kingdom of God for giving up their life (very often literally). Many stages lead to Saintdom and so it's a long way to recognition by the Church.

Because of what was done to her, Saint Apollonia became the Patron Saint of Dentists.

Cheers!

A dentist who drunk six glasses of wine during his lunch hour collapsed over a patient while extracting her tooth. He tried to sedate her twice and then started to extract too soon. Then he fell on her.

This happened in the UK, not in Eastern Europe....

Many people from Western Europe think Bulgaria is a backward country. This probably dates from the time that the country was still a part of the Soviet Union and the early 1990s, when it was independent but politically very instable.

For many others, Bulgaria now means a relatively cheap second house at a beautiful seaside with a wonderful climate.

A third group visits the country for cheap and excellent quality dental care. We need one or two weeks to perform dental treatment that would take months in their home country. In between treatment sessions, they can explore Bulgaria.

So.... come to Bulgaria and try its famous rakia liquor. Made from sweet fruits (e.g. grapes or plums) and much alcohol, it has found its way into many houses.

Our dentists only drink it when the're off duty....

Rust consumes iron and envy consumes itself

I wonder what some of the dark spots are....



In my worst scenario, this airplane is stained because it's a big piece of junk. There's more rust than clean metal and therefore the plane will crash within 5 seconds after take off. All 9.000.000 passengers and all 5.000 members of the crew will die, on the spot or in the hospital, and I survived because my car broke down and the only place they could get the spare part was China.
When teeth are stained, this can have many causes, e.g.
- aging
- food and drinks such as tea, coffee, red wine and blackcurrant
- smoking
- calculus or tartar
- antibiotics

Unlike (in my mind)/just like (in real life) airplanes, in general, teeth will not 'crash' just because of some stains. A proper teeth whitening can solve the problem. Not for ever, but for quite a long time if you practice good hygiene and avoid most of the above.

In our clinic, we use the QuickWhite method: http://www.quickwhite.net/.

It takes approximately 30 minutes of your time and costs 199 Euros.

Our leading lady

"Don't you think I look like this celebrity? You know, the one on the bike. With the kid! No, I don't remember his name. I think it was Et. Anyway, just phone home and tell them how you're doing, because they will be worrying about you and that dentist-woman."

'They' don't have to worry. You're in very good hands.

That 'dentist-woman' is Dr Regina Schindjalova. She was born in Russia, in 1970, and studied dental medicine and dental surgery at Moscow University. After that she leaded a Russian dental clinic for 4 years and since June 2006, she is our Head of Dentistry. She is a member of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists and the European Association of Dental Implantologists. Above all, she is a fine dental surgeon who has a solution for 99,99999% of all dental problems.

Inserting dental implants, performing a bone graft or a sinus lift are operations and -just like when your apendix is removed- no surgeon will give you a 100% guarantee that there will be no complications. The risk of an infection is always there and even the best doctor cannot always prevent one. However, this best doctor most certainly will do her utmost!

Q: What did the judge say to the dentist?

A: "Do you swear to pull the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth?"

Teamwork pays off!

Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton, and Barbara Havers (always changing ranks) know: working as a team can be frustrating. It's about negotiation and compromises.

Colleagues are not really a team before they have found out how to combine their individual strengths. In this case, Tommy is an aristocrat, which can come in handy when interviewing a witness or suspect at a university, while Barbara comes from another social class and therefore has a very different approach.

In our clinic, we have a very effective team. Dentists, receptionists, dental technicians and all the others work extremely well together. The team's morale and professionalism are excellent. Each member of the staff has his/her special skills. When there is a problem, they will look at it from many perspectives and they are all working under the same roof, so -unless they are having a day off- they are always there when you need them.

Nice teeth!

Reminds me of a Dutch saying: Eating with long teeth. Children tend to do so with Brussels sprouts and chicory.

I wonder what sabre-toothed tigers were getting these long teeth from. Maybe from eating too many mammoths? Mammoths also had long teeth... But then maybe mammoths didn't even live in the same time as the sabres; I don't know.

All I know is that I am glad I was born in a different age and in a country where the most dangerous animal seems to be be my poodle when he has found a bone and I try to take it from him.

Fortunately, my favourite food doesn't require nor does it cause long teeth.... The supplier lives around the corner: a Chinese called Chang. Many Chinese men are called Chang, yet every one of them is unique.

It's the same with dentists. That's why you can get so many different treatment advices. One dentist will tell you that your teeth are lost and that you will have to wear dentures for the rest of your life. His colleague, however, will save the same teeth with 16 crowns, 7 fillings, 2 inlays, 3 dental implants and only 1 extraction (the wisdom tooth that nobody really needs).

Relax.... In both cases, you'll still be able to eat French fries.

Missing teeth

It looks as if this 'person' has no lower teeth...

Many people do not consider that as big a problem as not having upper teeth. When you have full dentures and the lower breaks, you can still talk without an 'accent'. I don't know about eating; I never tried. I guess French fries would be fine and so would pudding or soup.

Most people have some discolouration, minor damage, perhaps a gap, fangs, crowded teeth etc. etc., but not this guy; it looks as if his teeth are all of the same shape and size....

In short: this isn't exactly Mr Average!

Our clinic isn't average either. We offer first class treatment in a wonderful atmosphere for economy prices. All disciplines are under the same roof. Computer tomography, implantology and prosthetics go with dental techniques. Yet, your savings usually are 50-60%!

When all teeth in a jaw are missing, dental implants are ready to take their place. You can choose between a denture on 4 implants (approx. 4.000 Euros) and bridges on implants (approx. 7.000 Euros). If you contact me, I will gladly clarify this difference in price.

Take the money and run....

The value of 10 Ruppee (see pic) is approx. 0.15 Euro, so I'd probably leave the money and start running anyway!

It's not that I dislike snakes. Some of my best friends are snakes! I even used to listen to music made by a band called Venom. Talking about venom.... Says one cobra to another: "Hey Frank, are we venomous?" "Why do you want to know?" "'Cause I just bit my tongue!"

Did I just make you laugh?

People smile, laugh and grin in many different ways. Some show nearly every tooth in their mouth, some just their upper teeth, and others keep their mouth closed. That's why I recommend a short look into the mirror (any mirror will do, just not the one that says " You are fairest of all!") When you smile in front of a mirror, you can count the teeth that show and find out the number of veneers that are needed.

So.... just walk up to that mirror and think of this:

What do snakes do at the end of a date?They give each other a goodnight hiss!

How can you revive a snake that looks dead?With mouse-to-mouth resuscitation!

Why can't snakes eat soup?No spoon! They only have a forked tongue!

Why did the snake laugh so hard she started to cry?She thought the joke was hisss-terical.

What is a snake's favorite song? "Fangs For The Memories"

What do you do if you find a poisonous snake in your toilet ? Wait till he's finished!

BINGO!

This looks a bit like the local Bingo-hall on a Sundaynight. Unless it's Christmas or New Year's Day, I am always there on a Sunday.

Last Sunday, my partner, Monique, went along. She doesn't like Bingo, in fact she hates it. Yet sometimes she rather joins me than staying home alone.

In round 4 or 5, I suddenly heard Monique whisper 'Bingo'. Well, actually she was sort of calling out loud, but let's say that my loud is a bit different from her loud. The number that filled out her three rows was 45.

I looked at her and stuttered something about jackpots. She looked back as if she saw a ghost, but in the end we went home with 410 Euros....

Now what could we buy with 410 Euros?

10 high quality fillings
41 (??? hm) extractions
2 bleachings (better make that 1 because I have dentures)
1 zirconium oxide crown
etc. etc.

So much money, so many options!

But.... good girls go to heaven and bad girls go everywhere,so I think we'll add some of our savings and go for a 102 centimetres LCD TV instead....

Collector's items

I am an animal lover and, in general, think they should be left at peace.

Exception 1: a tiger or lion tries to kill me.

Exception 2: a wasp tries to sting me.

That is why I hate circuses, horse, dog and rat races and seals and dolphins feeding shows.


When I was a child, I used to watch television series like Skippy, Flipper, Lassie and Mr Ed, the speaking horse, but for many years now I prefer Tom and Jerry.

Just one look at this butterfly tells me that such a beautiful creature should not be killed and collected. Not even in a museum!

Of course you can disagree. I guess it is a very old and never ending discussion whether animals should be 'kept' (in zoos or elsewhere) to be preserved and shown to the next generation of human beings.

In Maryland, USA, there is a famous dental museum. It has a very nice website: http://www.dentalmuseum.umaryland.edu/

(The teeth are dead too, but that's OK.)