The Economy of the Tooth-fairy

For those of you that are tooth fairy fans, I thought you might find this information interesting.  Guess what, the tooth fairy left an estimated 255 million dollars underneath pillows in 2013.  A recent survey, “The Original Tooth Fairy Poll,” has found that tooth fairies' average gift amount has hit a record high, averaging $4.36 per tooth in 2014.  That is up 25% from $2.50 in 2013.  Obviously reflecting a change in our economy.  The poll surveyed 1000 parents and found that in 40% of homes the tooth fairy was more generous if it was the first tooth that had been lost, leaving an average of $5.74 for the first tooth, a 27% increase from 2013.  The survey reported that in US homes the tooth fairy visited 81% of homes with children who lost a tooth, and that in 88% of those homes, cash was left for children either by itself or in combination with other gifts.  Kids who received gifts most often got a toothbrush, toothpaste or dental floss.  As for the reasons behind determining how much is left for each child, 44% of parents reported it was the amount of spare cash they had on hand while 39% based the amount on the child’s age.  By the way, not to be too political but if you feel that your government may be coming too intrusive, you might be interested to know that if your child comes in to our office or any other dental office with a permanent tooth eruption problem in which we have to remove a baby tooth, in order for us to give your child their baby tooth for the tooth fairy, Congress had to pass a specific law allowing us to give your child the extracted tooth, as the new EPA requirements no longer allow medical care providers to give their patient's bio-hazard materials that have been removed (gall stones, etc.) and this includes baby teeth.  Fortunately Congress in their “wisdom” is allowing us to give the child back their baby teeth.  If you want more information about poll results you can go to http://www.theoriginaltoothfairypoll.com and get more information.

                                  

The Vaccinate Debate

Wide spread use of vaccinations of our children, and more recently adults, has been a “hot topic” on the news lately with the spread of a measles outbreak from my old hang-out, Disneyland.  Obviously Disney has nothing to do with the outbreak.  The park is only a place where lots of kids hang-out, some without the vaccine for measles and others who are contagious with the measles virus.  Vaccines for deadly diseases have been used extensively since Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine in 1952 and Albert Sabin licensed the oral vaccine.  As a child we all got the sugar cubes with the polio vaccine on it thus eventually eradicating the deadly disease with only 223 cases worldwide in 2012.  My mother was a registered nurse and when one of the other kids in my neighborhood got the measles, mumps, chicken pox, etc, she made sure that we went down to their house to play with him so that we would get exposed, and thus be immunized as an adult.  With that as my history I find the news coverage regarding the measles outbreak to be interesting.  The 170 kids in California with the measles outbreak would have been matched on my block alone in the 50s with all the moms exposing their kids when “Johnny” got the measles.  Today there is definitely controversy with the possible side effects of vaccines (including Autism) possibly caused by a mercury based preservative called Thinerosal that has been removed from all vaccines since the late 1990s. There are many studies that show that these concerns regarding side effects were always unfounded, yet the rumors persist.  There are also religious and moral obligations to the very nature of vaccinations.  To comment on that aspect is well beyond my pay grade.  However I will say that if you are making a choice for your child, remember that you may have to deal with the consequences as a parent if your child is the one that gets the disease if he or she is not vaccinated.  Please carefully consider the risks, benefits and alternative treatments (RBAs) closely before making your decision to vaccinate or not to vaccinate your child.

Like Us On Facebook

Social media seems to be taking over the world today including dentistry.  Just look at our office.  We have changed our name in part due to the influence of social media.  We see it every day here with our Facebook check-in gifts and other Facebook contests, our posts on Instagram and our new website. We see patients using their mobile devices constantly while waiting for x-rays, examinations, even to the point where they are playing internet games while they are having dental work done.  But the one app I have the most fun with is the selfies that patients take when they are undergoing treatment.  One that comes to mind specifically occurred the other day and it was the oldest patient that we have ever had take a selfie to post on Facebook for her great granddaughter. She is 85 years young and was not sure how to operate her  iPhone so I had Autumn help her take the photo and post it for her great granddaughter on her Facebook account.  It was a riot and so much fun.  By the way did you know that Facebook founder and CEO Zukerman’s father is a dentist in Long Island and that he lectures nationally on the influence of social media in dentistry.  But that is a story for another blog.