Teeth WhiteningWritten by P. Mehta
Teeth whitening is a process of lightening color of teeth. It involves a bleaching process that reduces discoloration of enamel and dentin caused due to smoking, aging, consumption of tea, coffee and colas. You can try tooth whitening if you have healthy teeth without any fillings. Teeth whiteners are not suitable for dark gray stains, crowns, colored fillings and stains due to some medication such as tetracycline. There are several types of products available for use at home. When selecting a whitener you must look for ADA Seal for safety and effectiveness. Tooth whiteners gels or strips contain carbamide or hydrogen peroxide as active bleaching ingredients. The bleaching gel is placed in a thin bleaching tray that fits over teeth. The tooth whitening strips are placed on teeth and gently pressed to make a contact between whitener and surface of tooth. Results are usually seen within first week. You may experience tooth sensitivity to cold or discomfort in gums during treatment. These symptoms always disappear within a couple of days after completion of treatment. The tooth whitening toothpastes help remove surface stain through action of mild abrasives or chemical polishing agents. Whitening toothpastes with ADA Seal of Acceptance program do not alter intrinsic color of teeth, unlike bleaches.
| | The Ritual of Food AddictionWritten by Caryl Ehrlich
If you’ve been trying to figure out weight-loss game for as long as I’ve been coaching people – twenty five years – you’ve most likely been trying to avoid food, even though that point of view has not worked. What you need to do is to look at ritual leading up to part where you finish everything on your plate. For many years I had either a radio show or a public access television cable show named “Changing Habits.” The opening of both shows state: we cover eating, smoking, gambling, drinking, shopping, spending, and negative thinking. There was also discussion about low wage earning, debt accumulation, messy apartments, and procrastination. All of these things have something in common: they can be ritualized. I, too, was seduced by mesmerizing effect I felt when I was in mindless, automatic state of a ritual. When in that state of mind, you’re comfortable without having to think or feel anything else. I smoked cigarettes, spent too much, drank too much, and went into debt as if I were in a trance. Writing this book became a behavioral ritual; there was always another chapter to write or re-write or edit or type. I’m in middle of construction in my apartment. What began as re-doing a bathroom and kitchen floor has turned into buying new furniture and designing built-ins. One tiny part of redecorating process was looking for knobs for cabinet doors. There were hundreds of styles and shapes and colors and prices from which to choose. I don’t even want to tell you how many choices I had to make when it came to selecting a couch. Whether gambling or drugging or eating, or writing a book, there is a ritual of things we do, and say, and think, before, during, and after actual using of drug. And I use word drug here because a behavioral ritual is just as much a drug on your system as is food, or cigarettes, or alcohol. The gambler knows phone number of off-track betting or his/her bookie by heart; a bartender remembers your usual drink; you shop whenever you’re bored. The drinker has a favorite drink with a specific amount of ice or mixer or water. He/she might sip drink rhythmically, with or without others at specific times of day or week or year, and many people only drink in particular places, i.e., it never occurs to me to order alcohol in a Chinese restaurant. Whereas my friend Tom always orders a beer and friend Sara orders one large and one small sake when in a Japanese restaurant. Each part of a ritual knits with other parts to tighten behavior more and more effectively. Add to your list way you lock, and unlock, door to your home or office, answer your phone, call a friend, get ready for bed, set your hair, or comb your moustache. When I smoked, there was buying and smoking of cigarettes. But there was also my cigarette-case collection, a Dunhill lighter, and I used a Lalique ashtray, for goodness sake. I added additional behaviors to my ritual, too: I needed to shop for and have on hand, lighter fluid for lighter and extra mouth spray and mouth wash to use after I smoked each cigarette. The ritual paraphernalia is just as much a part of your eating- or smoking- or drinking-habit as lighting-up and inhaling of a cigarette, or swallowing of a bite of food. Each habit has its own ritual actions and reactions. Think about other rituals and habits you mindlessly perform each day: You brush your teeth, shower, shave, or put on makeup. Checking on mail or retrieving telephone answering-machine messages may be a part of your repertoire. I’ve recently added to my ritual, periodic checking of my email to see if “I’ve got mail.” Getting dressed in morning is ritualized, too. You might comb your hair and put on makeup, then put on clothes. Some others put their clothes on first, and then comb their hair and put on makeup. I eat breakfast and take my one-a-day, two-a-day, three-a-day vitamins, minerals, and calcium pills. I even arrange them on a paper plate in four little piles for easy access later. That’s a ritual, too. That’s what we do: We organize, and ritualize, so we can narcotize. All this busy work distracts you, at least for moment, from feelings or thoughts with which you don’t want to deal. I’ve practiced and perfected many constructive rituals into my life. After doing them consistently for many years, they are now automatic, and mindless and serve my needs. They help make my day run smoothly, like using a pencil when I write in my appointment book. There is comfort in familiar. It is ritual of first thought or word or action that leads to next thought or word or action to next, and next, and next. Eventually, you succumb to what you think is allure of taste or smell or even sight of food. But it is really tail end of a ritual where you might be tired or bored and just used to surrendering to whatever is set before you. Some of us eat as an excuse to take a break, or to rest. It is hard to say no because it is all knitted together from first thought of a ritual to first feelings of remorse. There’s always remorse. That’s part of ritual, too. This cycle of behavioral ritual needs to be interrupted and unraveled. Identifying these patterns, even acknowledging you have patterns, is a wonderful first step in changing habits.
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