The more things change the more they stay the same.

Spring is really here!! Or is it summer or still winter? The weather here in Louisville has been so up and down it is shocking, yet that's the Ohio river valley. Derby and Easter have come and gone. It's time for getting ready for lake trips and vacations.

Just like spring comes every year so do things go on a path that can be predicted. Tooth decay does not fix itself and in my experience gets worse when not repaired.

Every once in a while we get a patient whose life gets busy and they take a while before they are back in to get their restorations to remove the decay. It is always worse than when diagnosed. Life gets ahead of us often but we have to remember to take care of ourselves.

The office continues to listen to a mix of music. I went to see a band from Alaska last week named Portugal the man. They are not from Portugal, I was informed by my friend who invited me. There is always something new under the sun yet at the end of the day it is all music.

Winter Blah's in like a Lion!

I am not sure I want to blame climate change for our current situation but I do want to blame some annoying snow!! This weather is enough to drive someone crazy. Here in Louisville at least twice now we've gone from 70-80 to freezing in 24-48 hours. Hopefully spring is around the corner. Spring is a time of the year I like to re-evaluate my health and dietary habits in a spring cleaning of the body. Our overall health is of utmost importance from what fuel we put in our bodies to how we maintain it.

This couldn't be more true of our dental health. Each year more items are reflected to be linked to unhealthy teeth and gums. I personally have begun to look at my diet and particularly the amount of fats and proteins derived from animals.

Each person may have a different area they which to focus on but spring is a time for renewal, Lent, Easter, dog woods blooming and Derby right around the corner, its a great time to be in Louisville and alive for that matter. In our practices we have been focusing on cleaning as well, cleaning out any old treatment ideas and making sure our focus on positive patient care and forward thinking dental treatment in Louisville continues.

In music I have been continuing to expand my scope of music to include more indie-rock and electronic music. This includes a band I was turned onto by a friend. They are called The War on Drugs and in the past included a Philadelphia artist I saw at Forecastle named Kurt Vile. Their new album is available to preview on NPR music and is as if 70's era Tom Petty were channeling Dire Straights and Brian Eno with a bit of Fleetwood Mac guitars.

As always Annie clark aka St. Vincent keeps me excited with her new album, her approach to take organic music and completely disguise it as electronica continues to amaze me. Sounds that should be horns or keyboards may in fact be synths or processed guitars. After her collaboration with David Byrne in 2012 the workaholic Dallas native brings to mind a very powerful woman with art and music sensibilities as well as a great background in design that few can claim. Annie get your gun or Axe in this case because she is a killer guitarist.

In the office we have been listening to more country, reggae and classic jam bands like The Grateful dead based upon patient and team requests. You can always expect to hear something new, fun, or interesting in one of our locations.

How about that Weather?

It's the Polar Vortex here in Louisville and school is closed. I know its affecting things in Louisville when I visit the local Target to find it praticaly empty. Who would have ever thought that anything could keep people out of their neighborhood Taaaarget, as I've heard it pronounced. I am an avid follower of the daily and weekly economic news and I often stop and consider how the economy and our lives and workplaces are affected by weather.

A great example is last winter and spring was unseasonably warm year which allowed a lot of extra construction and new housing starts which helped fuel the growth of our economy and its recovery. This year it is quite different over nine thousand airline flights are cancelled. I will be interested in seeing the economic effects of this Polar Vortex has had on our U.S. economy.

Our offices are open because we love what we do and there are people that are willing to brave the ultra cold temperatures to care for their teeth.

What is cosmetic Dentistry?

I am reflecting on cosmetic dentistry today. We seated a denture last week and as I have mentioned before this was indeed cosmetic dentistry. But above all it was just good solid dental care. The individual needed their remaining teeth removed and we did that and placed a very beautiful full complete denture in place. The patient is very pleased and his smile looks better than it has for years.

This is a point I often make when I can to our team and patients. Cosmetic dentistry is not a specialty of dentistry, it is not a group, or test or a badge, it is an attitude and that attitude is reflected in everything from the shade of a composite filling to the all of the many other items we do in our offices. Whitening, Invisalign, and even dentures are cosmetic procedures.

Many people think of dentistry as a want based purchase in parts of the areas we draw our patients from here in Louisville. Others view it as a need based purchase because they understand that the health of their mouth and surrounding oral soft tissues affects their entire body. Educating patients to these facts is part of our job every day. Our work isn't just in the procedures we do to care for our patients, it is in educating them and passing along our decades of experience to them on a daily basis.

The Whole Body Connection

There is new information every day on how much our bodies speak with our environment and within separate parts with each other. I recently read a study and keeping in mind it was only one study, that showed a connection between depression and the degradation of DNA within the cell.

This particular study normalized for other factors such as alcohol, diabetes or other systemic diseases. This is also only one study, but I believe that many many years from now we will know just how important everything from mental health to diet to sun exposure and family time is directly important to health. In this case the scientists studied the decay rate of a particular protein called a telomere. I have always been interested in DNA and cellular biology, even as a child, In this case telomeres are proteins that actually help hold together our double stranded DNA within our cells.

DNA is the instructional code that tells every cell in our body how to build proteins and eventually organs and then the entire body. In this case it was found that people with depression had a faster decay rate and thus less inability to hold the DNA together.

More study will be necessary but this does not surprise me. We know that Oral Health or lack there of has an effect on diseases such as Heart Disease, Diabetes, and now we now that unhealthy gums are linked to Alzheimer's Disease.

It is basketball season her in the state of Kentucky and things will soon be heating up between the Cardinal and Cats Fans. Our offices gladly support both teams, even though both of our Doctors attended the University of Kentucky, we live here in the land of the cards so we show them the respect they deserve as last years National Champion.

Our patients make us who we are.

The last seven days in our offices have been busy ones. A lot of dentistry has been done and a lot of excitement. Last Friday was very busy at our east end location. We saw a wide range of cases from a large restorative case to a very special pediatric patient. This young man stands out to me because he has a very special place in my heart. He is from China and when he first started seeing me he did not speak the english language. He has been my patient for probably 2-3 years. But I may be exaggerating, as it almost seems like he has always been my patient. When his mother first brought him to me she and I struck up a conversation about a vacation island off the coast of china my brother visited when he was in China. It turns out her parents had a place there or visited often. I've watched him grow as a boy, and sometimes he does not want to behave for me when we treat him. This is what you learn, there are good days to do dental treatment on children and there are not so good days. To me, it is important to recognize the not so good days and just say, hey lets do this another day it was nice seeing you and let them visit the "treasure chest". I know in this "busy" world we live in that seems like a waste of time. And don't get me wrong I am more of an old fashioned guy in many ways including the fact that adults are in charge. I am not one who believes that children should dictate our behavior as a protocol. But I believe in what is best for a child sometimes this coincides with what the child wants, and sometimes it does not. My child rearing beliefs have not been tested beyond my immediate family, as I have no children of my own at this time. I love children and see many in our practices. They amaze me every time I see them. I once read an article that likened having a child was like pulling the arm of a slot machine. You never know what you will get but at the end of the day the possibility of a jackpot keeps us going for another day with our small humans as I call them.

I am currently listening to the new Pearl Jam album, not so sure I am a big fan but as with the last several....it won't keep me from seeing them on tour.

Technology in Louisville

I don't often get the time I want to simply explore business and technology news and my city. I was able to get some time today to just sip coffee and wait for the laundry to dry and just explored. First there was already not news to me about the new venture of the Hammerheads and Game owners over in the Loop area of the Deer Park neighborhood of Louisville. Those that know me are aware that I am a foodie and am a real nosey person when it comes to new places opening and in general all food related news. These guys really appear to have a vision to bring friends along the way with them and when I've seen them interact with Anthony Lamas about food and food shows they all seem to embody a joy of cooking and good food you can't have without being genuine.

I also saw that our Mayor Greg Fisher was speaking at the Code for America Summit in San Francisco. The good old fashioned curmudgeon in me asked exactly what our tax dollars where doing sending this fine man to the west coast....but then I just quieted down and started reading the article about his discussion of transparency in government and just took it al in. After that I read about and jumped to something very interesting.

This particular web page(or startup I'm not really sure) let's one input their zip or address to get crime stats and news very hyperlocal. It even told me about a new BBQ place I had heard of in the neighborhood that I wasn't quitte sure where it was located, and it gave me the opportunity to jump to the BBQ place's Yelp. This service seems ready to really make life hyperlocal it is called Louie Watch(beta). Look for it and I think you will at the very least find it interesting.

I always try to give a feel for what I am listening to and today the is a double live Album by the Tedeschi Trucks Band. THese two make great music as well as a beautiful family. I remember hearing stories back in the day of the two performing gigs in Louisville or Lexington and when one was performing the other might be hopping in their Volvo wagon and driving to the other city to perform. I don't know how true that is but I like to imagine these two awesome musicians having a wonderful family at home as well as on the road. Sounds like a movie screenplay to me...but what do I know. I have been a fan of Derek since he was practically a prodigy playing with the Allman Brothers and I saw Suzanne Tedeschi way back in the day in Lexington, what a soulful voice she brings to their sound.