Magic, books and dental adhesives

Hi all,
I started writing this on Tuesday and I picked it up this morning.
You will be able to tell my moods when reading.

OH MY GOSH!!

I went to the Magic game last night. It was so great.
Now you know that I have a great couple of years as a Gator fan.
Just a reminder...National Championship in Football in 2006 and 2008 (and possibly 2009) Basketball National Championship in 2005 and 2006 and many more.
I am a huge basketball fan. I like the NBA but it is about my third favorite sport.
But I live in Orlando and my father had season tickets for about 15 years (even my wife and I had season tickets for a year), so we are Magic fans.

I went to a NBA finals game in 1995 when Shaq was with us. But the NBA is so much larger than 15 years ago. There were snipers on the roof of the arena outside. There were huge banners and limo and lights and much much more. It was a spectacular event inside the arena and outside the arena and the Magic won.

This I am writing on Friday.
Being a Magic fan totally blows right now. Just writing this is making my stomach queezy.
Nothing like grasping defeat out of the hands of victory.
I like the Magic but it is over. Down 3-1, no chance.
Missed free throws, turnovers, bad defense....I need a sports therapist.



I have to tell you a story. I just got this awesome new family at our office.

Parents and 6 children (with two sets of twins). The mother came in and brought the two youngest twins...I think they were four years old.
When a kid comes in for the first time we take a picture of them with the hygienist. We send the picture to Walgreens.com and it comes back printed with a border around it. Then I write the kid a welcome card and tell them how great it was to meet them and stuff. Then we put the picture with the card.
Well these kids really loved it.
So then the other four came in last week but Timmy and his sister came with the old four.
So when everyone was leaving, I was busy so I wasn't able to say goodbye. Then I came up front and I saw that they were out in the parking lot so I ran to the front door and yelled "Goodbye everyone."
Then Timmy asked his mom a question and she started to laugh. I asked what he said.
Turns out he asked his mom if I could get my keys and follow them home and eat dinner with them that night.
This was so perfect. You know I am 40 years old now so I don't think Timmy and I could really hang out but I love that kids love it here.
I always say that I am trying to change people's attitude about dentists one patient at a time.



I finished my book Hope's Boy on Monday.
I told you it was an autobiography about a kid who was left to the LA foster kid program at seven years old. He was placed for 11 years with a family until he went off to college and then on to Harvard Law. Now he is an advocate for foster children in the area he grew up in.
You know I had a real problem with this book because he never once blamed his mother for not being able to handle him. His grandmother who contacts him after 10 years finally told him that she never fought for him because she thought he would be better off with a family that has a pool.
So the grandmother thought that a pool was a fine substitute for family.
But he blamed the system.
Look, the system is flawed, there is not doubt.

Then you have all sorts of kids. Kids with detatchment disorders, kids that are violent, kids that have learning disabilties, and then the normal everyday kid. But what other choice do they have but to run the facility like a juvenile detention facility.
Not a very loving environment.
But it so far beyond that. The family unit is not sacred anymore.
There is no discipline, no boundaries. And you know what kids who don't have boundaries or discipline grow up as? Parents that give less discipline or even less boundaries. Then it is...
People have babies they don't want or can't handle and then they give them up. People on crack having babies.
I don't know the answer to the system problems but I know one thing...the family unit is huge.

So I have to tell you this. I have read a couple of books about these people and they have been good. I am becoming more and more convinced that I want to write a book about my nephew Seth. In case you don't know, my wife and I raised Seth for seven years. From his almost 6th birthday to his almost 13th birthday.
Seth's story is so unbelievable.
A quick for instance....His mother had a boyfriend who was arrested for taking 4 year old Seth with him on a robbery.
I will let you know.
The problem is is that it doesn't have that happy of an ending.


We have got a couple of comments on the Invisalign blog but not enough...so comment and I will give you my feelings also.

I want to give you a quick read today.
I got last months JADA magazine and DENTAL ADHESIVE was on the cover. I normal don't read this magazine but this caught my eye. So I read it.
Turns out it was a 12 year clinical trial on a particular bonding agent.
In so many ways this article was disturbing in so many ways.
Okay let me give you the Readers digest version of the article.
They were testing one bonding material.
The authors restored 100 non carious lesions without mechanical retention.
The 12 year retention rates were 89%.
Great stuff.
Only one problem, they were testing Optibond Dual Cure. Well what is the problem with that? You may ask. Well, Kerr no longer makes this product.
You see, that these companies are trying so hard to create "better" products that they stop making the best product.
They are so busy being dynamic that we can't even do a simple longevity test on a certain product.
I have always kind of been ticked off that I can't keep up with the products out there. By the time I learn about three new products, four more have been made "new and improved".
Okay I read the whole article and I want to give you some of the one liners that I highlighted.
(and you will know see why I hate reading).
"Researchers have reported the longevity of adhesives in general to be three to eight years."
"The retention rate at the five years was lower among the two step etch and rinse adhesives (69%) and the lowest among the one step self etching adhesives (60%).
Two other studies that studied Optibond Dual Cure got very different results.
"Dijken and Pallesen found that the retention rate of Optibond Dual Cure at 13 years was 60%. Boghosian and colleagues found the 13 year retention rate to be 97%"
WHAT?!!
And last but not least the disclosure...
Dr. Swift holds a research contract with 3M ESPE and has received honoraria for consultation and continuing education from the Densply Kerr. Dr. Heymann blah, blah, blah and his son works for Kerr.

Very confusing data.
My head was spinning. I am frustrated with the system and I still don't know who to trust.
OR
What material to use.
Thank you JADA for this fine piece of "science".

Have a great weekend,
John