Dentist with a Sense of Humor

I found this little gem at adsoftheworld.com. I think most patients can appreciate the humor of Dr. Dunec located in Toronto, Canada.

"DJ Talent" taking some desperate measures

Last week I read a few articles about a man named Anthony Ghosh, aka "DJ Talent." Three years ago he invested £7,000 to have gold crowns placed on all 28 teeth. According to Ghosh, this was to improve his image as well as his career. Now, due to the poor economy, he is considering selling the gold and switching to porcelain.

I found the idea a little confusing. At my dental school gold and porcelain crowns cost roughly the same, and the value of the gold is about 1/4 the cost of the procedure (at most), so switching a gold crown to porcelain wouldn't save you any money - despite the increased value in gold over the past three years. Ghosh reportedly is asking £14,000 for his old crowns.

In an attempt to clear up my confusion, I contacted "DJ Talent" via his myspace page and got permission to ask a few questions for my blog. Here is our interview:

Dental Ninja - Have you looked into how much it will cost to replace all of the gold crowns with porcelain and how much money you would save?

DJ Talent - To sell my gold teeth it would cost £14,000. So I will save £4,000 . On the sale of my gold teeth.

DN - You originally got the gold crowns to help your image and career, do you feel this was a success? Do you regret your decision?

DJT - Having gold crowns has made me famous and unique and got my name out there in the bbc news and on radio and in the sun newspapers. So I am pleased with the teeth making me a natioanal star no regrest.

DN - Reports have mentioned you were the victim of several mugging attempts because of your teeth. Was your safety at all a factor in deciding to switch to porcelain?

DJT - I haven't switched to porcelain yet. If my music and filming takes off next year I will keep my gold teeth. I have been offered porcelain teeth by tv companies and they want to do a documentary but I am not sure if I want porcelain yet. My life has changed being a high profiled dj with gold teeth. I need to lead a low profile now and I can't go to public busy places. The gold teeth have brought me alot of success and recignition.

DN - Have you considered getting a removable "grill" to keep up the image?

DJT - I haven't thought about removable grills but I am interested in other dental solutions and ideas.

DN - I read that you spent £7000, but you're hoping to sell them for £14,000. Is that because of the increase of gold prices or your celebrity status?

DJT - Because gold has gone up my celebrity status has grown and the teeth has made me become a unique national star.

For more info on DJ Talent or to hear some of his music, visit his myspace page.

Heidi Klum's Teeth

Recently Heidi Klum was a guest on The Tonight Show where she revealed an interesting quirk: she still has all her baby teeth. Look closely. Can you tell?


Ok, so she still has all her baby teeth, but not in her mouth. She keeps them in a little baggy that she carries around for good luck. Watch the full interview below. They discuss her teeth beginning at about the 4 minute mark.

Weird.

Saved by the skin of his teeth!

Here's another good reason to floss - it could save your life. A couple weeks ago a 62 year old was ice skating on the Mississippi River when he fell in. He spent about an hour in the water before some local help, including his own son, were able to retrieve him - but it wasn't easy. The man disappeared under water so the son dove in and kept him afloat while the rescue team worked the rope towards him. The problem was that after an hour in the icy water, his hands no longer functioned, so his son suggested he bite on the rope while they tow him to safety. It worked, the man survived, and today he has his healthy dentition (as well as his son and the local law enforcement) to thank for it.

Full story here.

Teeth Injured in Failed Escape Attempt

What if I told you that a three-year-old broke off all four of his canines and ground three incisors to stumps while attempting to gnaw his way out of a cage? You'd probably be pretty angry, right? Well what if I told you the three year old looked like this:





You'd probably be a little more at ease. Here's the story of a father and son dental duo who recently performed 4 root canals and 3 extractions to heal the feline (who happens to be a Mexican Jaguar) of his self-inflicted dental dilemma. It took a total of 6 doctors, plus a rifleman (just in case) to complete the work.

This story leaves me with two questions:

1. How big were the endo files used in the root canals?
2. Where do I get a rifleman?

It could be worse

There's a book up for auction this week. It was written in 1770 by Thomas Berdmore. Never heard of him? He was the dentist to King George III. This is likely the first ever English textbook on dentistry. Personally, I find Berdmore's insights to be priceless! Here's a few gems, from this article:

He writes of a 23-year-old woman left in a “terrible state” by a “barber dentist”.

“She went to a barber dentist to have the leftmolaris tooth of the upper jaw on the right side taken out,” he says.

“On second attempt he brought away the affected tooth together with a piece of jawbone as big as a walnut and three neighbouring molars.”

He says the “barber dentist” embarked on the ill-fated extraction because he was “uneasy at disappointment”.

Ha ha! I would also consider myself "uneasy at disappointment" but I'd like to think I'll stop before ripping out half of your maxilla!

Berdmore also possessed a rudimentary understanding of orthodontics, instructing fellow dentists (and barber-dentists) to "Pass gold wire from the neighbouring teeth on either side in such a manner as to press upon what stands out of the line." Either that, or you could try to “break the teeth into order by means of a strong pair of crooked pliers”.

He also observed that sugar and smoking were harmful, and that for this reason peasants suffered less dental disease than their noble counterparts.

Anyway, I just wanted to pass this along as a reminder that dentistry has come a long way and you really don't have a lot to be afraid of (relatively speaking).

Cowboy, Ninja, Bear

Something's been on my mind the last couple of days. Amidst all the political change we've just experienced and in a week when I've had 4 mock board exams (and one more tomorrow) as well as a couple big school events in the evenings, you'd wouldn't expect me to be thinking about this - but I think Hemingway* said it best when he penned the words, "Eventually, everyone needs to write about ninjas." For me, this time is now.

You see, anyone who knows me well is probably aware of the fact that I'm obsessed with ninjas. The seeds were planted in my childhood when, like every other boy at the time, I was a huge TMNT fan. Years and years later as I was enjoying my last real summer (the one right before dental school) my roommates and I invested in some ninja suits and spent several evenings at the secret ninja training grounds perfecting our art.

Today I read about a promising children's book that is supposed to promote equality and diversity. As I recently discussed, there are good ways and there are bad ways to go about teaching diversity. This book, called "Ninja, Cowboy, Bear" seems like a good way. In addition to celebrating the differences between the three creatures, it teaches a new game - basically paper-rock-scissors but more intense. (If you've ever wanted to play paper-rock-scissors online, click here - hours of fun).

However, there is one key flaw in the game, and subsequently the book. See if you pick up on it:




Did you catch the mistake? Go check again if you missed it. Here it is - somebody accidentally wrote "Bear beats Ninja" - can you believe it? Don't they have editors there?

I mean lets think about it for a second. Ninjas can beat cowboys - Ok, I don't think anyone can argue this one. The only possible exception might be John Wayne vs. a half of a ninja and only in the daytime.

Cowboy vs. Bear? I think this one could go either way. It probably depends on the conditions, weapons, age of cowboy, etc. Incidentally, if you ever find yourself in the position of the cowboy facing a real bear and you happen to have access to the internet and need advice, click here.

Ninja vs. Bear. We shouldn't even be talking about this. First of all, how is a bear ever going to find the ninja? Can you find the ninjas?


Keep trying. So far I've only found 2 ninjas and what might be a ninja's foot. How is a bear supposed to find them? The only way a ninja and bear would ever square off is if the ninja wanted it to happen, and in that case he would stealthily make his kill and hide the carcass so nobody would ever know about it.

Lastly, I want to share a news story my brother shared with me last year. It's from the Onion News Network, which is a lot like CNN or MSNBC but they do a lot more fact-checking so their stories are more reliable.** This story takes place in Modesto, CA, which (in case you forgot) is also home to the Nuts.


Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

*Not Earnest Hemingway, but my imaginary friend, Dussa Hemingway.
**That's not true.