Inner Nature: Plant poisons
By Vidya Rajan, Columnist, The Times
Plants can be just as deadly to animals as animals are to animals, and this is not hyperbole. In order not to be eaten, plants abound with an alphabet soup of chemicals designed to make the predator so uncomfortable as to leave them alone, or to really make a point by killing them stone cold dead. Here, I want to spend a little time looking at plant toxins and review...
Breaking those bad dental health habits
By Dr. Stephanie McGann, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times
Bad Habits? You betcha – we all have then,nobody’s perfect. We all pick up bad habits along the way. Our personal oral health is no exception. Odds are you, like just about everyone else has picked up a habit or two that is not beneficial. It’s human nature to cut corners in the name of time or money, but with oral health care, the...
Don’t Retire, ReFire: ReFirement at Any Age!
By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times
Four and a half years ago, when I started writing articles, my focus was on offering different perspectives to facing retirement and the questions that arise.
As the months and years passed, and the articles continued, it became clear that what I was sharing had a more universal message that spanned the ages.
While a sixteen year old isn’t thinking about...
Don’t let a cold sore ruin your smile
By Dr. Stephanie McGann, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times
Nothing like holiday pandemic stress to trigger a cold sore. People who get these regularly know the feeling when one is brewing just under the skin. It never fails that a cold sore appears at the worst possible time. Finding which cold sore treatment works best for you can help speed along its healing. Here’s how to treat It quickly.
The...
Inner Nature: Parasitic control of host behavior
By Vidya Rajan, Columnist, The Times
We act, we think, rationally. But our thoughts are subject to manipulation: by new ideas, new experiences, psychoactive drugs, and … parasites.
Parasites are organisms that take up residence in a host, and then proceed to use the host’s energy to replicate themselves and spread. If the host is killed as part of the process, then the parasite must find some way...
Don’t Retire, ReFire: As we close the book on 2020
By Gail Suplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times
Here we are, nearing the end of the year but not just any year. This is a year that will truly be memorialized in the history books. It’s certainly like no other I’ve ever seen in my six plus decades of living.
It’s particularly notable for a young person, like my thirteen year old grandson, to be living through and being very much aware of and affected...
Inner Nature: Vaccine Formulations
By Vidya Rajan, Columnist, The Times
In early October, I was listening to Weekend Edition on National Public Radio when an interview with the Executive Director of Shark Allies, Stefanie Brendl, came on the air [1]. Her concern was urgent: a world-wide coronavirus vaccine that could contain the ingredient squalene, isolated from from shark livers, could lead to over a half-million sharks being harvested...
You may not want to hear it, but Public Health Professionals are keeping us safe
By Dr. Stephanie McGann, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times
We are in complicated and trying times to be sure. This month I would like to spend a few moments thanking another group of unsung heroes in our current crisis. Public health professionals have gotten ignored or “thrown under the bus” at times during this pandemic.
I thought it prudent to share all of things we take for granted today that...
Don’t Retire, Refire: Waiting to exhale
By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times
November is the month to celebrate Thanksgiving. I usually focus on the holiday but this year, there’s an added perspective to ruminate on.
Reaching for thanks and gratitude in the midst of this stormy year has been challenging and at times, arduous.
Weariness has come over many of us as we navigate through COVID-19, an unusual number of devastating hurricanes...
How dental offices are working to keep you safe
By Dr. Stephanie McGann, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times
It’s been a complicated year for everyone. In the dental world we have faced full business shutdowns, treating only emergency patients while scrambling for overpriced and undelivered PPE and taking care of our patients during a time of overall uncertainty. Dentists and dental employees alike were weighing the pros and cons of returning to work. ...
