Vacation next week & flying last weekend.

I hope that all of you are doing well. It has been wonderful weather lately. Hopefully you have been enjoying the fresh air and getting out.

The office will be closed for oral health care from this coming Saturday [July 18th] and for the next full week. We have appointments scheduled again starting Monday, the 27th. Our last day in the office will be this coming Friday the 17th, before the vacation.

Lori will be in the office for limited hours next week. Please call the office and speak with her or leave us a voice mail if you would like. I have already arranged to have 2 local dentists in my study club to help with any emergencies that may arise during my absence. As always, information will be available by calling the office at 847.675.3002.

I am making a trip across Iowa with a smaller group [ www.ragbraicubs.org ] among approximately 10,000 other bicyclists. My daughter, Erika, will be making the trip also. There are 62 bicyclists in the smaller group and a support crew, Erika is a member of the support crew for this trip.

During this trip, I will be riding my bicycle during the day and flying my powered paraglider in the mornings and evenings when conditions are right. Yesterday there was a profile in the Des Moines Register newspaper at http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090713/LIFE/907130301/1039
mentioning this.

This last weekend was very good weather for flying. I was at the Kankakee Regional Airport for an ultralight flying event. Photos that I took during this event can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/davidmcw3/PPG090711KIKKFlyIn?authkey=Gv1sRgCLfXjoeJ6Yz7BQ# at your leisure.

Again, I wish you the best, and look forward to seeing you, your friends, family and neighbors in the office and around town.

Newer Anesthetic

Having a 'dental family' is fun. It is truly a pleasure to work with all of you. Stress comes into the equation due to the nature of the treatment which can be uncomfortable. The nature of teeth is that they are sensitive. They have 'nerves' that are usually quite sensitive when teeth need to be treated even with small cavities.

Novocaine is what most of us call the local anesthetic that is used in dentistry. Novocaine hasn't been used by most of us for years. It was replaced by lidocaine before I started dental school. I have never given a patient actual novocaine. Lidocaine has recently been replaced by a more comfortable and more dependable local anesthetic called articaine.

Articaine is much better than lidocaine [and thus novocaine] in a couple of signicant characteristics. It penetrates tissues much more effectively. It also doesn't hurt as it is injected nearly as much as lidocaine.

I have been using articaine at my office for a number of years. Many other offices are finally switching to this more comfortable anesthetic.