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JoJo the golden retriever works at Pediatric Dentistry of Northbrook in Illinois, helping to ease patients’ anxiety and keep them calm during their appointments, according to the practice’s website. The pooch, who’s a trained comfort dog, has been visiting the dentistry once a month and she’s had a positive effect on the kids she meets.

I regularly open carry around town in Yuma, Arizona.   A couple of months ago, my Doctor recommended that I undergo a series of tests, mostly as a precaution.  My Doctor and I get along quite well.  She has never offered any complaint about my open carry in her office, and it has become something of a joke with the receptionist that I have to remove a considerable amount  of gear, including pistol, knife, phone, keys and other items before I weigh in.My first personal physician in Yuma never had a problem either; he is a competitive shooter and worked...

The American dentist who sparked worldwide outrage in July when he killed Cecil — Zimbabwe’s most beloved lion — will not be charged with any crime because the hunt was perfectly legal, authorities said Monday. Walter Palmer, 55, had “all (his) papers in order” when he tracked the rare black-maned big cat and took him down with a bow and arrow just outside Hwange National Park in the Western part of the African country, according to Reuters. Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told local media that Zimbabwean authorities had conducted an investigation in part with the Prosecutor General, which concluded that...

Attention Cecil The Lion Fans: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe Allegedly Ate A Baby Elephant Outraged animal lovers and conservationists petitioning the White House to extradite big-game hunter Walter Palmer to Zimbabwe for killing Cecil the lion may be unaware the the country’s president, Robert Mugabe, reportedly ate baby elephant meat during his lavish 91st birthday party in late February. A deceased lion was also allegedly involved in those festivities, a bash that cost about $1 million and was staged at a luxury resort with thousands of party guests in attendance. “Held a week after his birthday, the celebrations were described...

For most people in the southern African nation, where unemployment tops 80 percent and the economy continues to feel the after-effects of billion percent hyperinflation a decade ago, the uproar had all the hallmarks of a 'First World Problem'. "Are you saying that all this noise is about a dead lion? Lions are killed all the time in this country," said Tryphina Kaseke, a used-clothes hawker on the streets of Harare. "What is so special about this one?" As with many countries in Africa, in Zimbabwe big wild animals such as lions, elephants or hippos are seen either as a...

An American dentist has been accused of killing a well-known lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe earlier this month, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (WCTF) confirmed. The Zimbabwe tourism authority named the man accused of killing Cecil as Walter Palmer, a Minnesota dentist and avid big-game hunter. “#WalterJamesPalmer was the man who killed #CecilTheLion. This was an #illegalhunt,” the authority posted on Twitter. The Associated Press reported that Zimbabwean conservationists had accused an American of paying $50,000 to kill the lion. The American “shot the lion with a bow and arrow." ... Rodrigues told the Star that the...

But after a parent in Georgia discovered his daughter strapped in to the chair for a dental visit, many are questioning the dentists’s decision to use physical restraints on the little girl. As WSB-TV reports, James Crow had taken his five-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, to the dentist to have a front tooth removed when he made the disturbing discovery.

My dental health is something I have always taken seriously — and as a gadget fan, I’ve spent hundreds of pounds on the latest high-tech electronic toothbrushes and expensive toothpastes, gels and mouthwashes. But then I had to go without brushing my teeth for a fortnight. This was for a new two-part series on dental health for the BBC, and what we discovered was truly eye-opening, with implications not just for me, but for all of us. My wife was anything but keen on the no-brushing experiment and there was a lot less kissing during that fortnight. And she was...

Patricia Launneborg’s book Abortion: a Positive Decision is a difficult book for a pro-lifer to read. As the title indicates, it presents abortion in the most positive light possible, sugarcoating the decision and praising women who have abortions. One especially eye-opening quote comes from a clinic worker who says (emphasis mine): In Spain every single abortion is done under local [anesthesia]. It’s walk in, walk out. They come in at 4 clock, by 5 o’clock they have had the operation, the consultation, and are back home. And I was so impressed by it. I said, it’s not possible! I wouldn’t...

Pot smoking — and its stereotypical associations like munching on carbohydrates and other treats — seems like it’d be your teeth’s worst enemy. And now some Colorado dentists are saying more research needs to be done on how smoking pot can affect dental health, including causing an increase in cavities. “We’ve been finding more cavities in our patients who are smoking more than a few times a week,” dental hygienist Julie Baukus at LoDo Dental says. The journal of the American Dental Association finds smoking marijuana can lead to abnormal growths and lesions inside the mouth. Some Colorado dentists are...

**SNIP** The investigation extended to Yee after an undercover FBI agent who had infiltrated Chow's group was introduced to the senator and allegedly persuaded him to trade political favors for campaign contributions. Lim became enmeshed in the case due to his political backing of Yee. According to a 137-page FBI affidavit, Yee introduced Lim to the undercover agent as a man who could secure guns. The agent, the FBI said, had asked Yee to facilitate an arms deal in exchange for more campaign money. The accusations prompted the Philippines government to open a probe into whether Lim had links to...

Fear of the dentist can make people do strange things to avoid having their teeth checked including inventing a story that you have been kidnapped, as one boy in France did recently. Police spent a month investigating his tale. The dentist is never the favourite place for children but some youngsters will go to greater lengths than others to avoid having to see one, it seems. One 12-year-old boy in a village in the Alpine village St Gervais even went as far as telling police he had been kidnapped so he wouldn’t have to see the tooth doctor, French paper...

True story: Several years ago I drove home from my office and pulled in front of my house. As I was getting out of my car, a local homeless women was standing right behind me, as if she had materialized out of thin air. Before I could say anything, she stated (in a thick Anglo-Indian accent), "Pardon me sir, can you tell me the name of a dentist whose last name begins with 'Mc'?" I thought for a moment and replied, "No, I'm sorry, I cannot tell you the name of any dentists whose last name begins with 'Mc'. Can...

A new Gallup poll has revealed that 1 in 3 adults in the United States have not visited the dentist within the past year—a trend that has stayed mostly the same since 2008. The survey is based on information gathered from interviews with more than 530,000 Americans aged 18 and older. Women were much more likely to have visited the dentist annually than men; among ethnic groups, 55 percent of blacks and Hispanics recalled visiting the dentist in the past year, compared to 70 percent of whites and Asians. The biggest predictor of visiting the dentist was income. Individuals who...

DALY CITY (KPIX 5) — A Daly City dentist was among the 26 people indicted in a corruption scandal involving State Sen. Leland Yee. Dr. Wilson Lim is accused of setting up an arms deal that involved militants in the Philippines. **SNIP** Lim allegedly asked for a list of weapons the agent wanted, and said they would come from the Philippine military in Mindinao through his nephew. Lim also allegedly claimed he could hook the agent up with leadership from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a group well known to Lim’s Filipino patients.

I was recently asked by my dentist to fill out an on-line patient history so they could go paperless. After spending a bunch of time filling out a bunch of very detailed information I get to the last page and read this: WARNING: 21 USC 843(d), states that any person knowingly or intentionally furnishes false or fraudulent information in the application is subject to term of inprisonment of not more than 4 years, and a fine under Title 18 of not more than $250,000 , or both.By typing my full name in the space below, I hereby certify that the...

A dentist wants to clone John Lennon from his rotten tooth All you need is DNA. A Canadian dentist says he's working with "American scientists" to clone John Lennon from a rotten molar the Beatles singer had extracted in the 1960s. According to the press release (warning: it autoplays a weird parody song, "Love Me Tooth") dentist Michael Zuk bought the tooth at auction for $31,000 and now is working with an unspecified lab to see if they can clone him. Says Zuk: I am nervous and excited at the possibility that we will be able to fully sequence John...

A dentist in Santa Fe will fix your teeth for a fraction of the cost, provided you don’t mind him working with tools from a dirty tackle box. Eliver Kestler Eliver Kestler, or “El Dentista” as he’s allegedly known to clients, is in Santa Fe County jail on charges including practicing without a license, distribution of a controlled substance, attempt to commit a felony, conspiracy and a warrant in a traffic case. Kestler, 36, of Santa Fe, is accused of running an unlicensed dental practice, making home calls to clients in his red 2001 Chevrolet, according to a report written...

DAVIE (CBS4) – A fake dentist, already under investigation for practicing medicine without a license, is now accused of treated a woman for her toothache and then kissing her buttocks after an injection, according to a Hollywood Police report.

The Great Len Penzo has asked me, nay, compelled me to write a post for you, his followers, on how to save money at the dentist. Well, he came to the right guy because I may just be the only practicing dentist/personal finance blogger on the planet. Pretty cool, huh? So today I’ll share with you some of the best things you can do to save money on dental care so you don’t go broke at the dentist. Dental care, like any other kind of health care, isn’t cheap. So it’s great to be able to save some money any...