#kids dental clinic katy

[kidsteeths-blog]

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[familydentalcorner]

Best Children's and Pediatric Dentist Near You | Katy, TX

Children need to visit a pediatric dentist at an early stage. It helps them to retain a clean and healthy mouth throughout their life.

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Hide Your Dental Phobia

Describe the Experience Awaiting the Kid

Play a Few Games

Carefully Plan Their Initial Dental Appointment

Positive Reinforcement Is a Must

Carry Your Kids Favorite Toy

Our pediatric dentist in Katy provides the best dental treatment for your kids in safe environment. For more, call us at 832-980-9111 and schedule an appointment today.

[stanandcharleyandfriends]

In the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed to Scott Neabore that the pet population had doubled as people bound to their homes sought out cats and dogs for comfort and companionship. His practice in Haddonfield, meanwhile, was still compact — just him and three vet technicians.

His schedule is fully booked with surgeries until autumn. There are no slots for more dental procedures until the beginning of next year. He has performed more spay and neuter surgeries in the last year than he ever did previously.

“The pet population essentially doubled in a year, but the veterinarian population did not,” he said. “Now we’re trying to play catch-up.”

As pet ownership sharply grew in the last year — 11.38 million households in the United States got pets during the pandemic, according to the American Pet Products Association — so did the workload for veterinary practices, many of which simultaneously grappled with COVID-19 safety protocol, concerns of thinning staff, and growing pressure to see as many patients as possible.

Even with nimble vet staff, there was sometimes a waiting period of six to seven hours at the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital emergency room in Hillsborough, N.J. — a delay exacerbated by some owners who brought in their pets for nonurgent matters, veterinarian Agatha Kuza said.

“My job has kind of become a general practice-emergency hybrid,” she said, noting that some people have paid the more expensive emergency hospital fee rather than wait longer to get their animal seen elsewhere.

In a typical 12-hour shift during the pandemic, Kuza saw 10 to 15 patients. On her busiest day, she recalled, she saw 30. Another day, when two other emergency clinics in the area diverted owners to nearby facilities, eight patients showed up at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital within an hour.

The work has become overwhelming, Kuza said. After already long days sometimes peppered with combative or accusatory pet owners, some employees stay an extra hour or two to finish their tasks, she said. Half of the nurses who were working at the hospital when Kuza was hired last year have resigned, and replacements are hard to find.

“I definitely already feel burned out,” said Kuza, who graduated in 2019 from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. “I don’t see myself doing emergency — or even veterinary medicine — long term.” She has begun to see a therapist, she said, and take medication.

When COVID-19 and vet medicine collided, it brewed “a perfect storm,” said Jennifer Keeler, executive director of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association.

“We started out with not being sure if vet clinics could remain open, and in the early days, they were only open for the emergency procedures,” she said. That pushed back routine wellness visits — and the backlog compounded as people began adopting or buying new pets and bringing them in for their first checkups.

“Once they were allowed to do routine care and trying to dig out of that backlog, a lot of staff members are parents whose kids are home,” she said, noting that the majority of veterinarians and veterinary technicians in the United States are women. “So a lot of vet clinics lost staff and have been unable to fill positions. It’s really put a lot of pressure on them.”

Coupled with new rules surrounding COVID-19, such as appointments that required owners to stay outside while their pet was being seen, more owners became frustrated and angry, Keeler said.

“That can be emotional for pet owners because they want to be in with their pet,” she said. “They often give a lot of push-back to vets and staff, so it’s kind of coming at vet professionals from all angles lately.”

Turnover is then high, she said, particularly when there is low pay, little job satisfaction, burnout, and compassion fatigue. Vet technicians and technologists earned an annual median pay of $36,260 in 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The agency found that the veterinarians averaged $108,350 a year as of last May.

“I get cursed at at least once a week,” said an emergency veterinarian in Philadelphia who requested anonymity for fear of jeopardizing her job. People also have threatened and yelled at her, she said, slammed doors in her face, and walked out on $2,000 bills. “It’s definitely gotten much worse.”

The workload, too, has been fierce: In the first week of the pandemic, she said, a few cat owners who began to spend more time at home observed their pets more closely and brought them in to be examined. She diagnosed three with having abdominal tumors. And she examined more puppies than usual, many of which came from Lancaster County, Missouri, or Ohio, hot spots for puppy mills.

“Everyone just wants a puppy so much right now that puppies that wouldn’t get adopted with heart murmurs or hernias are getting adopted,” she said.

Recently, she noticed an uptick in animals that had ingested marijuana.

She said she had used her own money to pay for the treatment of six animals surrendered to her practice during the COVID-19 outbreak. One was a puppy with a broken leg; another, a cat with a severed tail.

“There’s no end in sight,” she said, and recalled a shift when she had to handle 15 emergencies by herself. “And we’re just working harder and harder and harder.”

Despite increased stress, “in general, I’m doing better than most people,” she said. “... You have to not take things personally. You have to come up with ways to cope, or you can’t deal with it.”

As it stands, the industry feels broken, said Braelyn Bankoff, a graduate of Penn Vet. She left her job as a small-animal vet in April 2020 after the job left her anxious and unhappy.

“The vet world right now feels set up to go poorly from the start,” she said, and pointed to the high cost of vet school that led to people “feeling trapped” or “forced to work unsustainably,” and the expense of running a tight-margin animal hospital that invited the pressure of seeing as many patients a day as possible. The stress, so crippling at times, has given rise to Not One More Vet, a national nonprofit dedicated to bettering the mental health of vet staff.

“It puts more burden on the existing staff and results in crazy hours, unsustainable workloads, too many client expectations you just can’t support,” Bankoff said.

She ultimately found that the pressure was unhealthy.

“I started developing stress-related illness,” she said. “I saw a psychiatrist and had to get on antidepressants and anxiety medication.” She quit her job without another one lined up and started a job search. She landed her current position, an analyst for the National Board of Medical Examiners, in January.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” she said. “I have hobbies now. I have a life. I am no longer on any meds. I feel very much myself again, and that’s awesome.”

***

Published June 7, 2021. The author, Katie Park, is suburban development reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

[aleatoryalarmalligator]

Life Story - Part 27

Ava, Sarah and I used to go to the end of Kendrick and spend our early summers swimming in a swimming hole in the creek. We would get there early, and then leave in the early evening. It was one of the most pleasant and simple times of my entire life. My belly hurt from laughing just about every day I came home. Katie wouldn't step foot in that water so she didn't go with us on these trips, and now that I am an adult, I can certainly appreciate her reasons. Upstream not too far there was a cattle ranch, and the cows just freely did their thing in that squalid little area – all to be washed down into the swimming hole where us young maiden swam and splashed. When my older sister Maria had been a teenager, she had once let herself sink a little. Her foot went straight into the bloated gut of a dead animal that had sunk to the bottom. Just thinking of this, I can feel the depth of slime on my own foot somehow. In my naive, thirteen going on fourteen year old mind – things that had no human value to me at the moment could just as easily not exist. Logic meant very little to me. I found this very valid reason to not swim in the swimming hole at the end of town painfully intrusive to my personal enjoyment. I was really having quite a good summer that year, and I have always absolutely loved swimming so why would I want to ruin it on account of microscopic bacteria that I couldn't even see.

After swimming, we would go up to Sarah's house, get changed, and go downtown. We would go down there just to sit, and people watch. I tried to draw a few times, but whenever I try to draw outside on bright summer days, the paper will always hurt my eyes. We would find strange games to play. One game that Ava and I made up that I particularly remember was 'Guess their name'. Incredibly obnoxious, and fun if you are into that sort of thing. Basically, as you and your friend sit in front of the store or somewhere public where people are coming and going, when someone was getting into their car, you just started shouting out names to see which one they responded to you on. Eventually the person would look over like you were crazy. But whoever had shouted the name that they looked over at us puzzled to, that was the name that person had. If you guessed it, that was your point. If your friend guessed it, they got the point. We got really competitive, and when you do this, you will end up saying the same obscure name over and over, like Olaf or Margot. I remember my brain was stuck on the name Boris, which is not a common name. So it ended up a lot of men's names were Boris.

After that, we would all head up to Sarah's house where we would sit around the table, draw and listen to music. It was very entertaining for me, and I was never ever lonely back in those days. Carol had troubles with Ava being at the house. Ava was extremely loud, and every time she walked into Sarah's house she would knock the lamp over. Also, Ava had this undying need to drink milk. She would drink an entire gallon of milk in a single day. Both Sarah and I were asked by our parents to stop drinking so much milk, not realizing that it was almost entirely upon Ava. I just would quietly take the blame, knowing that Ava would have a meltdown of insecurity and accusations if I even suggested she not drink all the milk.

Katie was very distant with us. She was going through something very strange, and she was never really all that honest with me about what that was. I had to look for her often. Her mother worked as the receptionist at the small dental clinic. Sometimes she would be in there. She seemed depressed but like she was hiding it and saying things she didn't mean and smiling even though her eyes were unhappy. As the person I am today, I would have done more to coax her to letting me know what was wrong, but back then, I was really just wondering why she was intentionally missing out on all the fun. I didn't realize that Ava had been spoonfeeding her things that she made up that we had said. I didn't really understand why someone would do that. I think to a degree also Katie was feeling jealous.  Samantha had her first boyfriend. She was the first one of us to have a boyfriend, and Katie felt this was unfair since she was older. I don't remember the chaps name that Sam was with at the time, and it doesn't really matter since there were many more to come. Samantha was dating another guy a week later. Katie was jealous, and I remember she started calling Samantha a slut. Which made me mad, because though I wasn't sex positive in those days, I wasn't that sex negative either and I didn't think it was nice.

Katie started wearing make up and when she talked she seemed to not be talking to the person who was talking to. She had this extremely fake laugh that upset me and made me feel a strange dissonance. I wanted to know what was wrong. She seemed like she was about to crack in two. I think she was feeling ugly and maybe like she didn't belong – and maybe she didn't in some ways that seem more obvious to me in retrospect. Perhaps she was comparing herself to others. I didn't really know because I was so obsessed with what I was up to. Sarah was also kind of in a funk, though a soft peaceful one that didn't really surface most of the time. It felt strange to me, because in a lot of ways it felt like Ava and I were incredibly enthusiastic about being alive, and Sarah and Katie, the people who I had been kind of trained to look up to, well they both seemed to be kind of distant and lost. Sarah wasn't full blown depressed. She just wasn't as excited as Ava and I was and I was having this blast of a time. Life felt hysterical, like a whimsical upbeat costume party with over 100 people. Sarah had given up on dating Rex. Rex had taken a popular girl named Amy to the prom, and it just hit a switch in Sarah's mind I guess. Amy went on to be one of the top ten contestants to be Miss Idaho in the Miss America pageants one year, and sometimes in the Moscow mall for years later I would see her stock photo picture. Sarah probably felt outclassed.

Sarah and I were sitting in her mom's computer room one day, and Sarah showed me that she had been talking to boys in Orofino, just like Samantha. She said she really just wanted a boyfriend. I was probably a little rude about it. After asking Sarah a bunch of questions, I think I told her that it was stupid and forced. Though I was right in a way. Sarah was just trying to fill a void and she thought she would naturally like anyone she connected with – in hopes perhaps to be like Samantha.  It was wrong of me to put such a negative spin on things however. It is so easy for me to downgrade other people. I am in the gray area between sexual and asexual, and from my personal perspective, it has never dawned on me to go out looking for a boyfriend, the way you might go out looking for a car or a breakfast. It comes to you or it doesn't, and when it doesn't I don't think about it. Which isn't the way it is for other people. Other people have this void and an instinct to be in a relationship. The same goes for me and having babies. I have maybe felt the urge to procreate once, kinda. It was not very strong and seemed like a terrible idea so I ignored it and it went away. But other girls I meet, and I think guys have their own urge, will just want kids. I've learned not to judge people. I am the weird one.

The conversation she had with this 14-16 year old young male from Orofino Idaho was quite dull. He wouldn't stop sending her pictures of his chest in between dull conversation at the most inappropriate times.. They never talked about anything meaningful. Sarah went with Sam one weekend to meet this guy – it was the big day, I think his name was Phil or something, and as soon as Sarah saw him she was very sorry she had ever spoken to him. He was just terrible in every way, so I am told. She had to run away from him coldly but he just kept following her around trying to impress her the entire evening, asking for her phone number and such. But not in a romantic way. More like in an 'I want to get laid please, please, please look at my muscly chest I'm a man not a boy!' kind of way. When she came back to talk to me about it, I sort of smirked that I had told her so.

Meanwhile, Orlando Bloom got the lead role in Pirates of the Caribbean and the first movie was out for the summer. I was not convinced it was going to be any good at all, but Ava was of course ecstatic to see her beloved Orlando once more. Soon she had printed out several pictures of him in his seafaring get up and had them all over her purple walls. We went to see it together one time and I was quite right by my estimation to assume the worst. I was hoping Johnny Depp would save it, but I gotta say, I absolutely hate Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. He grosses me out. To this day, I really do not like the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and I have avoided them ever since. Ava took me with her to see that movie in theaters four times. And she went over ten times just by herself.

I ended up we going to Ava's house many times that summer, despite the dangers of her moods or her mother's moods and the miles and miles of pale yellow nothing that stretched on wards into the dull sky. Sometimes her mom would randomly get angry for no reason and drive me back to Kendrick. But then I would be invited back up the next day – there was never and explanation other than I think it was some kind of empty battle for control and I was but a pawn on that board. Ava and I would go swimming in her pond. It was so full of catfish they were swimming all over one another at the bottom. And the water was slimy. Honestly, I don't recommend swimming in stagnant pools of catfish in 100 degrees. The bottom was this pure fowl mush of god only knows what and it felt so gross squishing between your toes. If you stayed in one place for any length of time, the catfish would swarm all over you and just start nibbling on you. I remember one time Ava decided to just sit in the pond and see what the catfish would do to her skin. When she got out of the pond, her entire leg was red from the biting.

Certain friends I have had in my life I have gone to for some stability – instinctively as I don't consciously think about it most of the time, and there are friends that – when I am with I end up unleashing terrible things that lurk in my nature that never come out generally. Ava was the latter type of comrade. That summer, I did some unthinkably cruel to one of the catfish that we caught. To my credit, I had been told growing up that fish don't have feelings and so I had the impression that the fish was essentially not alive by my definition. Plus, I used to eat meat, so it's a slipperly slope when you look at the life of an animal's value when you are in the business of making some of them your meal. I know now that fish can feel. I am a vegan now, and when I think about this stuff, I just make a mental note that I will never tell other vegans I meet in life about my former self.

Ava and caught this catfish, and we wanted to see what it's insides looked like. We took the fish up to one of her barns. We cut open it's belly, and we named it The Colonel. Because I kept calling him a trooper, on account that, we had his entire innards on display, but he still was desperately trying to breath. The thing is about catfish, they are very hearty creatures. They can live without water for a certain period of time. They can survive in muck. We pulled out it's lungs, inspected its stomach, took out it's intestines. Absentmindedly I grabbed it's bladder in my fingers, and popped it. When I did this, yellow stuff went everywhere. It was so freaking sick. The poor thing stayed alive too. Eventually Ava and I started feeling weird about the fact that it was alive, as we took out it's beating heart and felt it in our hands. It was so strange to feel this little being heart pumping still. I freaked out and Ava and I decided to squash the poor fish, just to put it out of it's misery. We both had pushed each other into doing it – feeding off of some innate cruelty that we both possessed, and now we both felt badly. We decided not to tell anyone about what we had done.

Probably the most prominent component of that summer though, something I rarely like talking about due to embarrassment, is my complete and total adoration for bands like Good Charlotte and Simple Plan. I fucking loved Good Charlotte in particular. I owned both their albums at the time. Planned on getting a tattoo. When I turned eighteen I swore I would start a band just so our band could tour with their band, and then maybe, just maybe I could hook up with one of them. And at first, I was obsessed with the main singer  - Joel. But then as the summer progressed, I realized that I was actually in love with Benji – his punkier twin brother. Both had these awful nasally voices – just thinking of it now as the person I am, I used to really feel their songs and everything and it's just cringy.

Why did anyone like Good Charlotte so much? Why was I so obsessed? They were the absolute worst. I think in a way, Joel Madden was like a surrogate to Kyle in my subconscious. Kyle vaguely looked like Joel Madden, and then I moved over to Benji at some point since he had a better smile and seemed edgier. I was convinced that I was going to marry Benji someday. I was really invested. I saw my life as a series of steps to get to that point. I seemed to overlook the fact that there were tens of thousands of girls in their own bedrooms fantasizing about the day that Benji and they would wed. So many girls named babexforxbenji and various monikers online.

I thought about Good Charlotte about half the time honestly, how awesomely attractive they were, how cool and free they were. In my limited understanding of teen rebellion, Good Charlotte was really pushin' the envelope as to how rebellious a person could be – their gimicky image was as far as my small little perspective could comprehend. In my mind, they represented everything I wanted to be. This of course, is exactly what the marketers in some board room in a sky scraper somewhere wanted me to feel. They took the elements of punk that were genuine, and they put it on a boy band – essentially – but really it was just fratboy music. I believed they stuck up for the 'me's' in the world, and I bought every single poster of Good Charlotte that was out. And I bought every single teen magazine that was available at the little grocery store downtown, just to get little clippings of them, and sometimes they sold these small posters in the teen magazines.

I covered my walls with them. Above my bed, I took the clippings of every lame pop punk band that was in these magazines, and I taped it to my wall. It was the most teenybopping wall collage there ever was and as I had moved rooms again, I took a room that had twelve foot ceilings. The early 00's teenybopper collage almost reached up that high. I wished that I had taken just one picture. It had Ashton Kutcher here and there. Blink 182. Green Day. Evanescence, All of 13 ½ year old Renee's favorites. There was one very special picture of Benji though that I kept in my pocket at all times. It was my absolute favorite. I would take it out and look at it so much that the crinkles had almost made the picture disappear. And I tell you this now, not because I am proud. But this was who I was – a necessary part of my development I suppose. Faultlessly, my father thought it was ridiculous, but since it really wasn't ruining the wall in any way, he let it be and didn't actually make me feel too bad about it.

I was staying the night at Ava's house, and she decided that we were going to go on fake dates with Benji and Orlando. She dressed me up as a pop punk school girl, and herself in something else – I don't remember what, and then she took a photograph of us in our outfits. There is a part of me that wants to talk to her on facebook and ask her if she still has that photo. Half of me wants to see it, and the other half would be relieved if it disappeared.

My father was horrible to me the summer of 03'. His relationship had not panned out as he had hoped, and he was listening to a lot of really angry conservative talk radio, Michael Savage was one of his favs and I think he was using that anger and his own personal sense of disappointment to somehow 'blame the liberals'. He talked on and on how women were what was wrong with America. He kept accusing me of being high when I would come home. I was too much in my Good Charlotte world to pay him any serious mind, but in these moments were actually really tense. He was living in some kind of hellish fury beneath the surface. He was TNT that wanted to explode and a lot of his aggression, having no one else to blame and seeing me bopping around, was aimed directly at me. If I was listening to music, he would come in and shut it off in a really aggressive manner that made me nervous. At random times, he would ground me, and there was never a clear reason for why.

He resented being used by Jodi, and so he decided that this all stemmed down to her being a woman. And he resented me because I was not a child anymore and didn't really have a lot of faith in him anymore. And now I was a woman, deserving of equal punishment. I didn't say anything out of line to him – I would have been too afraid for my well being to ever fight back at all. I was not the kind of teenager with outward mood swings. I wasn't snotty to him. I wasn't even allowed to cry in his presence, with the exception of a few things like an extreme injury or a rare occasion where it made sense to him. But he just knew I resented him and he was losing control of me, and that festered in his thoughts often. I could hear it behind the shouting of the radio when I walked passed. But I think more than anything, he had more resentment for himself. And since he had always put himself on a pedestal when I was young and impressionable, the concept that I had seen through the curtain at the confused and angry and ultimately forgivable human being that he really was made him hate himself a lot. He couldn't process his own guilt. All he knew was that I brought on a sense of self doubt that he had about himself, and without having the proper coping mechanisms, all he could think to do was smite me.

He seemed to actually hate himself a lot more than I ever did for that matter. And because I was consciously aware of him and had kept him accountable for his inconsistencies, I represented everything he hated about himself. If I could just not exist, then perhaps he could muffle out how weak and heartbroken he felt about his perceived failings. I think the idea of me forgiving him for flaws that he didn't even want me to know existed, that he had demonstrated before me made him even madder. If I am to be the forgiver, than in his eyes, I am the one in control – not him.

But honestly, I just wanted to have fun. I wasn't doing drugs. I just wanted to go swimming and read silly articles about boys in bands and tape them on my wall. I wasn't interested in his bank money, his relationship status.

And this goes to show something sort of crazy about the guy. He never has any interest in anyone around him unless they have something directly to offer him – or he can somehow relate. At his best, he is a curious person and if you peak his curiosity, he may under the right circumstances open up to a new idea to a limited degree. If he cannot, he assumes that the activities and ideas of that other person are pointless and a threat to civility in some fashion. Which is why he resented philosophers and people of that nature. If there is one or two writers that he did like, such as Steinbeck or Carl Sagan – they instantly were claimed as somehow owned by him. Me being as divergent as I am had already become a major issue for him.

One of the things that he made this really outlandishly crazy deal about were the clothes pins that held up our clothes out on the line to dry. He became obsessed with the fact that I pulled the pins violently off the line when I didn't. I put them on in a way that he thought looked like I had pulled them, but I was very delicate. In fact, I thought I was doing a good job. This was actually because I was snapping them on in a certain way (I will not go into detail about the physics behind this very mundane task), and he was insistent that I was ripping my clothes off the line nonetheless. He grounded me for a week. It ruined a bunch of plans I had with my friends. And in that time, I tried even harder to make the pins right, which only made them look in his eyes like I had pulled them. He said I would have to be grounded all summer. I cried and pleaded with him to actually go out there with me so I could show him what I was doing. I tried to be reasonable. But in his mind, I was just as bad as Maria or Roxanne. I was just as bad as my mother, or Jodi. And he was going to teach all of them a lesson by teaching me a lesson.

It took me three weeks, but I finally figured out what he was seeing that made him think I was pulling the clothing. This entire thing was pitifully stupid, because for one, he was not able to ground me when he wasn't there eighty percent of the time to enforce it. And also, wooden clothes pins are cheap. And why would I have ruined my own summer just to pull my clothes off the line? I eventually became consciously aware of how it was I was putting them on the line, and it connected to how I was kind of shorter than the line. So I was finally able to put them the way he liked, by compensating for my reach. I don't believe he ever believed me though. In the mean time, July had passed and I had spent half of it angry in my room feeling wrongly accused by the unstable psycho in the kitchen chiming on to Michael Savage on conservative talk radio.

The biggest battle was about my income. I felt incredibly used by both my dad and my mom when it came to babysitting. I had never asked for any money in return for the time I spent. Sure, Allison and David were easy to babysit – sometimes. But this still meant that I missed out on a lot of fun. There were a lot of things I could never go out and do. They both had to work and they couldn't help that. I could hardly fault them for this, but their working was ironically their excuse to not pay me one cent. This setup that had been going on for two years then meant that I really only had the freedom to go out and about twice a week and all of the days I could have gone out in July had been taken by the clothes pin deal. I felt it was unfair that I was not allowed any compensation for my time. So I formed some courage, and I asked my dad if he would pay me for babysitting. He yelled at me and told me that it was my mom's job to pay me since she had bailed on me, not him, but I reminded him that two of those days were days where I was under his custody. This made him fly into a rage. He called me disgusting and a spoiled fucking brat that he was sorry he ever had. He made it sound like my request was absurd. What was the amount I was asking for? Three dollars a week. A laughable price even then.

I just wanted to be able to buy music, or maybe a blue Pepsi (that was a drink back in those days and it tasted like cotton candy). I had never been allowed to have any money at all. I remember asking my father for five cents once, and he had turned me down. This was one of the first times that I actually talked back to him. He threw a huge fit over it which devolved into him screaming at me in the corner as I held myself crying. This was absolutely insane, which, especially as an adult now, I know it could not have been the amount I was asking for at all. I thought I was being reasonable. He spent 500$ on Jodi's Christmas present alone. His income was 18$ an hour and that was even more when you consider inflation since 03'. He could afford paying me twelve dollars a month. If I had gone through his wallet and stolen it, he would never have known. No, what he wanted was mindless subservience of a dog. He was angry that I had even developed enough self esteem to consider what I asked for and he was attempting to beat that self esteem out of me.

To give him some credit, he must have thought about what I had asked more than it had seemed initially. By the end of the summer, he bought me a box from Ross that was 20$ that he thought would fit all my drawings into. He told me that this was what he was giving me in compensation for the babysitting of the previous two years. I accepted it. I didn't ever think  he was going to pay me for previous years of babysitting, so there was no harm in accepting this. He also told me, as we were in the car, that he was going to pay me 20$ every three weeks, which was a lot more than what I had asked for. I was very happy about this. And I didn't end up spending almost any of that money. It just grew over time in the credit union. So in a way, I did win. It wasn't what I deserved, but it was a huge improvement from what I had.

I will concede one thing for my dad that summer though. Later that summer, we got in another fight. I don't remember what it was about, but I remember sitting in my room feeling furious and resentful, him two rooms away in the kitchen. (Oh this is embarrassing). In order to let him know how I felt, I decided to listen to 'Perfect' by Simple Plan over and over again. It's a barely listenable tune. It's essentially a pop punk song to the singer's dad. I put it in my fancy cd changer that I had gotten as my main gift for Christmas, and I let it go on as loud as it could go, on repeat. It played twelve times in a row, ringing through the house. I honestly thought the song was that powerful I guess at the time. In that fight, I might have been right. But if my dad ever had a good reason to strangle me to death, that would have been the time. And he didn't, and he must have known. I mean, when you hear a song like that you cannot ignore it, try as you may to.

PART 26 - http://tinyurl.com/y73nvl73

PART 25 -  http://tinyurl.com/y6v6pgoj

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PART 19 - http://tinyurl.com/rfhbms8

PART 18 - http://tinyurl.com/ycrznrwk

PART 17 - http://tinyurl.com/y77unlng

PART 16 - http://tinyurl.com/yadpsv8c

PART 15 - http://tinyurl.com/yb3lt6k5

PART 14 - http://tinyurl.com/yb4cfedq

PART 13 - http://tinyurl.com/yalanq9s

PART 12 - http://tinyurl.com/yc79mw94

PART 11 - http://tinyurl.com/yc9qhj84

PART 10 - http://tinyurl.com/yb734w24

PART 9 - http://tinyurl.com/yc2t6vfw  

PART 8 - http://tinyurl.com/ybl37utq

PART 7 - http://tinyurl.com/ybvo283g

PART 6 - http://tinyurl.com/kbc9dwu

PART 5 - http://tinyurl.com/msnz4am

PART 4 - http://tinyurl.com/k9x8esg

PART 3 - http://tinyurl.com/mwp9atx

PART 2 - http://tinyurl.com/lbt6xq2

PART 1 - http://tinyurl.com/l8xbvg8

[erickanobble]

Step forward into volunteering

The first time she traveled to Kenya to spend a few weeks volunteering at a World Health Dental Organization (WHDO) clinic, Dr. Katie Vincer Sears admits she was nervous. In the Oct. 16 episode of the ADA’s Beyond the Mouth podcast, she remembers thinking, “What am I getting myself into?”

Upon arriving, though, she learned that the Maasai people, who have a strong sense of community, were not only looking out for each other but for visiting dentists and their children as well.

 “In 2017 when we went to Kenya,” she says, “my kids were [ages] 4, 3 and 1. We got out of the vehicle, and they all ran [off] in separate directions. There are guards at the clinic just to make sure you’re OK, to walk you to and from dinner and essentially protect you from large animals. One guard, John, appears out of nowhere, and he has our 1-year-old by the hand, bringing him back. It’s a perfect example of how the Maasai treat each other. They’re all watching out for the children. It’s just a beautiful community.”

Dr. Vincer Sears found the experience so rewarding that she has made two trips to the Maasai clinic so far and plans to return again, family and all, in 2021.

She first found her interest in volunteering as a dental student, although finances made such efforts difficult.

“There were some mission trips in dental school,” she explains. “[Yet] I didn’t even have an extra $5. I really struggled with having the money to be able to do something like that as a student, and even when I was first practicing. Now it’s been a great opportunity to travel the world and to provide dental work to those in need.”

In addition to her work with WHDO, Dr. Vincer Sears participates in the ADA’s Give Kid’s a Smile and other local programs.

“I also participate in different functions around the community that may be providing free dental care, and we also have an extraction clinic here in Columbus, Ohio, where they are looking for doctors on Mondays,” she says. “I volunteer there as well. There are lots of different opportunities. I feel like there’s never enough time. But lots of great places to volunteer locally.

“[Give Kids a Smile] has been a great experience because some of my patients I treated stuck with me,” she continues. “Everyone has different situations that happen in life, and so we reach out to local schools. We had one family who had fallen on hard times during the recession. I saw the boys during Give Kids a Smile, and once the parents got back on their feet, they [were my] patients for years.”

Dr. Vincer Sears says she feels fortunate to be able to give back. “I feel like what comes back to me is tenfold. And the lessons that I’ve learned and the experiences that I’ve had have made me be a better dentist and a better person. I would encourage anyone who’s [thinking] about it to just do it. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t love it. It’s an incredible experience that will give you more than you ever expected.”

Dr. Vincer Sears’s comments were lightly edited and drawn from Beyond the Mouth, a podcast from the ADA Center for Professional Success. Beyond the Mouth is available at ADA.org/BeyondtheMouth and through most major podcast distribution channels.

This blog post is sponsored by the ADA Center for Professional Success.

from Dental https://www.asdablog.com/stepping-forward-into-volunteering/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[rickymanguson]

Step forward into volunteering

The first time she traveled to Kenya to spend a few weeks volunteering at a World Health Dental Organization (WHDO) clinic, Dr. Katie Vincer Sears admits she was nervous. In the Oct. 16 episode of the ADA’s Beyond the Mouth podcast, she remembers thinking, “What am I getting myself into?”

Upon arriving, though, she learned that the Maasai people, who have a strong sense of community, were not only looking out for each other but for visiting dentists and their children as well.

 “In 2017 when we went to Kenya,” she says, “my kids were [ages] 4, 3 and 1. We got out of the vehicle, and they all ran [off] in separate directions. There are guards at the clinic just to make sure you’re OK, to walk you to and from dinner and essentially protect you from large animals. One guard, John, appears out of nowhere, and he has our 1-year-old by the hand, bringing him back. It’s a perfect example of how the Maasai treat each other. They’re all watching out for the children. It’s just a beautiful community.”

Dr. Vincer Sears found the experience so rewarding that she has made two trips to the Maasai clinic so far and plans to return again, family and all, in 2021.

She first found her interest in volunteering as a dental student, although finances made such efforts difficult.

“There were some mission trips in dental school,” she explains. “[Yet] I didn’t even have an extra $5. I really struggled with having the money to be able to do something like that as a student, and even when I was first practicing. Now it’s been a great opportunity to travel the world and to provide dental work to those in need.”

In addition to her work with WHDO, Dr. Vincer Sears participates in the ADA’s Give Kid’s a Smile and other local programs.

“I also participate in different functions around the community that may be providing free dental care, and we also have an extraction clinic here in Columbus, Ohio, where they are looking for doctors on Mondays,” she says. “I volunteer there as well. There are lots of different opportunities. I feel like there’s never enough time. But lots of great places to volunteer locally.

“[Give Kids a Smile] has been a great experience because some of my patients I treated stuck with me,” she continues. “Everyone has different situations that happen in life, and so we reach out to local schools. We had one family who had fallen on hard times during the recession. I saw the boys during Give Kids a Smile, and once the parents got back on their feet, they [were my] patients for years.”

Dr. Vincer Sears says she feels fortunate to be able to give back. “I feel like what comes back to me is tenfold. And the lessons that I’ve learned and the experiences that I’ve had have made me be a better dentist and a better person. I would encourage anyone who’s [thinking] about it to just do it. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t love it. It’s an incredible experience that will give you more than you ever expected.”

Dr. Vincer Sears’s comments were lightly edited and drawn from Beyond the Mouth, a podcast from the ADA Center for Professional Success. Beyond the Mouth is available at ADA.org/BeyondtheMouth and through most major podcast distribution channels.

This blog post is sponsored by the ADA Center for Professional Success.

from Dental Tips https://www.asdablog.com/stepping-forward-into-volunteering/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[keysdentalcentre]

My Dental Braces at VnT Dental Center

Unlike traditional braces, Ceramic braces are made from porcelain brackets which are translucent and blends well with the teeth. The drawback with Ceramic braces is that they are harder to manage. The brackets are glass-like and are more fragile. However, my mind was made up. Before they installed the brackets, I had some tooth restorations done first. Have I mentioned my ultimate fear of tooth extractions and anything that has to deal with the dentist? Thank goodness they did not extract any teeth from me.

A woman’s smile is such a great weapon! But what if you’re not blessed enough to have perfectly aligned teeth? Unfortunately, I am one of those unlucky ones. Before, my teeth were all crooked. Thanks to my eagerness at being my own dentist when I was a kid, the growth of my developing teeth was badly compromised. It was really one of my main insecurities while I was growing up. Yes, I can still smile decently, but it was far different from having that commercial-ready picture-perfect smile. If you look at my previous blog posts last year, you can see why I sometimes find it difficult to fully smile at the camera.

I remember it was back in 5th grade when I first heard about dental braces. It was the perfect solution for my misery. I tried to convince my mom to let me get braces but I was not able to persuade her. So I just continued dreaming of having that perfect smile someday. But last year, the tooth fairy finally granted my wish and I was able to change the destiny of my poor teeth. Since I am much older now, I realized that having those bright metal braces would not be suitable for me. I was also afraid that the dentist would insist on giving me braces like the one Katy Pery wore at the Last Friday Night music video. Oh my ! How will I pull that off?

After some researching and canvassing, VnT Dental Center was the one I chose for this life-changing journey. The clinic is owned and managed by young and professional dentists Dr. Jake Paulo Villaruel and Dr. Isabel Tomagan. They have two branches, one in Starmall at Mandaluyong City and another at West Avenue in Quezon City. I chose to have my procedures done at Starmall which is more accessible to me.

The clinic is very clean and suits my standards even if it is not that big. Before they started the procedure, they made sure that I was well informed and aware of what going to happen. There are different type of braces according to each patient’s needs. The traditional metal braces are the cheapest and most common of these. There are also the ceramic braces which have clear brackets that are almost invisible and hardly noticeable. Lingual Braces and Invisalign braces are other options which are less common in the country. The doctors initially wanted to use the Passive Self-Ligating type of braces on me because it would best fit my teeth condition. But since these braces are mostly metal, I insisted on having the less noticeable and more visually appealing Ceramic braces.

Unlike traditional braces, Ceramic braces are made from porcelain brackets which are translucent and blends well with the teeth. The drawback with Ceramic braces is that they are harder to manage. The brackets are glass-like and are more fragile. However, my mind was made up. Before they installed the brackets, I had some tooth restorations done first. Have I mentioned my ultimate fear of tooth extractions and anything that has to deal with the dentist? Thank goodness they did not extract any teeth from me.

The bracket application was made by Dr. Villaruel and was done in a jiffy. I was happy I did not feel any discomfort during the procedure. Afterwards, they gave me instructions on how to take care of my new braces. I was also given a toothbrush set specifically for my teeth. I will have to come back to the dentist after every month for tightening and adjustments of the wires and brackets. Dr. Villaruel gave me a timetable of 24 months to complete my entire dental procedure, after which I will have to wear retainers for probably a year.

After just a few months, I already noticed the big change in my teeth! It will be harder for me to eat and enjoy certain types of food for the next two years since the ceramic braces might brake if I bite into hard items. Oh, how I miss munching on those burgers! Despite that sacrifice, I am really satisfied with how VnT Dental Center is attending to my needs. I’m so excited to finish this quest knowing that at the end I will be able to flash my new shiny Megawatt smile.

VnT Dental Center

3/F Starmall, Edsa Shaw Blvd. Mandaluyong City

Contact Nos: 470-1909 / 0927-5771371

www.vtdentalclinic.com

dentist46998@yahoo.com

V&T Professional Dental Care Clinic

48 Mary Santos Artcade, West Ave. Quezon City

Contact Nos: 2380836, 09237471179

#VnT dental center

#starmall

#dental braces

#ceramic

#orthodontist

First seen on: http://thehungrykat.com/post/85283409743/braces

[mymagicalbelieverbouquetfan]

Dentist games for kids

Dentist games for kids

Become a dentist and help our friends to have a healthy mouth. Brian, Katie, Frank and Peter have come to the dental clinic for you to help them clean their teeth, put fillings or fix broken teeth. Your children may perform dental treatments and play as experts dentists. Help your kid become a dentist, it’s educational and fun. Enjoy our amazing dentists game. Choose one of the characters and…

[kidsteeths-blog]

How To Strengthen Tooth Enamel?

Tooth enamel is the white, visible part of the tooth that most of us associate teeth with. It’s the first line of protection your teeth have against plaque and cavities. We use primarily use enamel to eat because they are strong enough to withstand the pressure of chewing. Unfortunately, tooth enamel is exposed to acids formed by cavity-causing bacteria whenever there is food debris left in the mouth. So how can you protect your child’s tooth enamel?

Read more Visit Us - 6 Ways to Keep Your Kids’ Tooth Enamel Strong

Contact Us - 281-579-8700

Address - 20660 Westheimer Pkwy, Suite A, Katy, TX 77450

Visit Us - Kids Healthy Teeth

[kidsteeths-blog]

Dental treatment is usually straightforward

Even though the patient may have a sensation of discomfort following treatment completion, you shouldn’t expect any significant complications when you come to us for treatment. Some of the most common concerns are feeling pain or swelling after your kid visited the dentist.

Local Anesthesia

As a post Treatment Care in Katy, we recommend you don’t touch, pull, suck, or chew on the numb areas. Usually, dental health professionals have to numb the mouth’s interior, lips, and cheeks during and after the required procedure. Avoid eating for at least two hours after you leave the doctor’s practice.

Know more Visit Us - Post Treatment Care

Contact Us - 281-579-8700

Address - 20660 Westheimer Pkwy, Suite A, Katy, TX 77450

Visit Us - Kids Healthy Teeth

[kidsteeths-blog]

When Can My Child Return to School After Tooth Extraction?

By: Admin  October 31, 2023

Parents already have a lot to deal with when it comes to raising a child and ensuring they have all the help they need for healthy dental development, which is why, when they have to bring their kid for some dental work, some parents ask how to deal with a kids tooth extraction and when can their kid return to school or sports after treatment.

Don’t worry, though, as parents can prioritize their kids’ dental care by considering the level of care and the Pediatric Dentists’ experience with kids. Dr. Chen graduated with a Post-Doctoral Certificate in Pediatric Dentistry and a Master of Science in Dentistry.

Read more Visit Us - When Can My Child Return to School After Tooth Extraction?

Contact Us - 281-579-8700

Address - 20660 Westheimer Pkwy, Suite A, Katy, TX 77450

Visit Us - Kids Healthy Teeth

[kidsteeths-blog]

It is surprising to see a baby become a toddler, then a kid, and see them looking funnily toothless after losing their baby teeth. In fact, an emotional moment for parents is saying goodbye to baby teeth, as it marks kids getting into the last part of childhood.

Also, sometimes seeing a kid losing their teeth takes parents by surprise. As a result, parents constantly ask us questions about what to do with baby teeth. Thinking of this, we have created a list of baby tooth-related subtopics based on common parents’ concerns.

With this brief introduction, we then deal with folklore myths scaling to transcendental topics such as the importance of keeping baby teeth and its relation to stem cell research and potential future clinical needs.

Read More Visit Us — What to Do With Your Child’s Baby Teeth

Contact Us — 281–579–8700

Address — 20660 Westheimer Pkwy, Suite A, Katy, TX 77450

[kidsteeths-blog]

The Tooth Fairy is a beloved mythical creature that has been helping children overcome their fears of losing their baby teeth for centuries. This traditional story entails bravery in that memorable moment for parents when a child loses a tooth.

The story completes when the child actively participates, placing the tooth under their pillow in exchange for a special gift or some money from this magical fairy, “ahem,” their parents. And yes, this well-loved tradition has been passed down from generation to generation, and parents can rely on it to make their children feel more at ease about losing their teeth.

Read more Visit Us - Weird History: The Tooth Fairy

Contact Us - 281-579-8700

Address - 20660 Westheimer Pkwy, Suite A, Katy, TX 77450

Visit Us - Kids Healthy Teeth

[kidsteeths-blog]

How to Help Your Kids When They Have Bleeding Gums

Has your child ever come to you with bleeding gums? If so, you should watch out for several causes, but the one that requires special attention is gum disease.

Bleeding gums can be indicative of severe dental health issues that you don’t want to let slide. With age, you can even relate periodontal disease to several other health problems, so you should never neglect your dental hygiene.

Toddler bleeding gums can result from inflammation and infections that endanger your teeth, mouth, and overall health. These infections can even spread to other parts of the patient’s body and cause even more complications.

Read more Visit Us - Why Does My Child Have Bleeding Gums? 4 Common Causes.

Contact Us - 281-579-8700

Address - 20660 Westheimer Pkwy, Suite A, Katy, TX 77450

Visit Us - Kids Healthy Teeth

[kidsteeths-blog]

How To Strengthen Tooth Enamel?

Tooth enamel is the white, visible part of the tooth that most of us associate teeth with. It’s the first line of protection your teeth have against plaque and cavities. We use primarily use enamel to eat because they are strong enough to withstand the pressure of chewing. Unfortunately, tooth enamel is exposed to acids formed by cavity-causing bacteria whenever there is food debris left in the mouth. So how can you protect your child’s tooth enamel?

For more updates Visit Us - https://kidshealthyteeth.com/6-ways-to-keep-your-kids-tooth-enamel-strong/

Contact Us - 281-579-8700

Address -

20660 Westheimer Pkwy, Suite A, Katy, TX 77450

Visit Us - https://kidshealthyteeth.com/

[kidsteeths-blog]

As a post Treatment Care in Katy, we recommend you don’t touch, pull, suck, or chew on the numb areas. Usually, dental health professionals have to numb the mouth’s interior, lips, and cheeks during and after the required procedure. Avoid eating for at least two hours after you leave the doctor’s practice. If you are extremely hungry, you can try getting soft foods and liquids, but please avoid hard foods that require heavy chewing or pulling with your teeth.

For more updates Visit Us - https://kidshealthyteeth.com/post-treatment-care/

Contact Us - 281-579-8700

Address -

20660 Westheimer Pkwy, Suite A, Katy, TX 77450

Visit Us - https://kidshealthyteeth.com/