Buca di Beppo

Over the thanksgiving weekend I took my family to Salt Lake City.  We make this trip annually.  We love to go to temple square and look at the Christmas lights, I am always amazed at how many they fit on a single tree.  We also make it a point to go and look at the statue of Jesus Christ and watch the Christmas story as told in Luke chapter 2.  It is a very fun and inspiring night for us. 
We wanted to take our kids somewhere fun for dinner while we were down there.  My wife and I had been to Bucca di Beppo before, which is an italian restaurant, and our oldest loves fettuccine alfredo.  How could we miss?  This visit didn't go so well.  We had at least three dirty plates brought to our table all with food stuck on them still.  We had dirty silverware and to top it off there was a hair in the salad they brought us.  My Mother-in-Law, who is more than happy to let a restaurant know if they messed up found the hair and stayed quiet about it.  I was shocked.  Long story short, not sure I will go there again.  Now that may be a little too hard on them but when I go to a restaurant I expect it to be clean.  One dirty plate ok but three???  There is something wrong there.  Plus to top it off my oldest didn't like the fettuccine alfredo.  Another swing and a miss for me!!!!  Gotta love it.

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Thanksgiving

Just a quick note before the holidays.  As I reflect on Thanksgiving and the true intent behind the holiday, I am reminded of traditions that are near and dear to my heart.  I remember growing up my mom would get up extremely early and start cooking the bird.  When I managed to drag myself out of bed I would smell the aroma of Turkey.  I will never forget how good that smelled.
Now that I am grown I am trying to teach my kids how blessed we are to live in this wonderful country.  Do we have problems in this country?  Yes and they are big ones but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.  One tradition we have is for everyone to say what they are most thankful for.  I love doing that and I look forward to this Thanksgiving when I can enjoy that tradition again. 

No matter what it is you do for the holiday, I hope you take the time to count your blessings, because I am positive you have many blessings to give thanks for!

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I have a tooth ache

The other day I had a patient come into my office with a tooth that was bothering her.  I took an x-ray and sure enough there was a large cavity that extended into the nerve of the tooth.  She told me this tooth had bothered her a month or so ago and she went to the doctor and they put her on an antibiotic.  She took the antibiotic and the tooth started feeling better at which point she put off going to the dentist.  She was in some pain when I saw her but due to time constraints we only prescribed her an antibiotic and some pain medicine and scheduled her for a time that worked better for her. 
The next morning she called and she said she was swollen and was going to the emergency room.  I knew exactly what they were going to tell her, GO BACK TO THE DENTIST.  We normally start at noon on Wednesdays and stay open until 7.  I came in to see her at 10.  She was very swollen.  I got her numb and did the root canal which turned out great!  But now she will have to wait for the antibiotics to kick in which usually takes 48 hours, and she will probably be swollen for a week or so.  Why am I telling you this?  Simple, if she had come in the first time her tooth hurt she would have avoided a visit to the ER and an emergency root canal and all the swelling.  A general rule with teeth.  If it hurts its most likely going to be expensive and the longer you wait the worse it will get.

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Cold Sores

Yesterday I had a mom bring her 8 year old daughter into my office.  She had been to an urgent care clinic the day before.  The urgent care clinic told the mom that she needed to see a dentist and gave the child an antibiotic.  I sat down and looked at this poor little girl and she has sores in her nose on her lips and chin and all over her gums.  They looked like little pimples that she had popped and that they had crusted over.  I know for those with a weak stomach this may be a little disgusting.  But I immediately knew what it was.  This poor girl had primary or acute herpetic gingivostomatitis.  Basically that's a big word for a cold sore outbreak.  It most commonly occurs when the kids are between 2 and 3, but can occur in adults as well. 

I have learned over the years that when it comes to treating cold sores early treatment is the best way to go.  The earlier you treat the shorter the duration.  I love to prescribe a medication called Valtrex for patients with cold sores.  It is an amazing drug.  If you take the pills as soon as you know a cold sore is coming on most of the time the cold sore will not appear at all.  If you get cold sores talk to your physician or dentist and get a prescription you can thank me later.  I have also heard that taking the supplement L-Lysine will decrease the number of cold sores you get.  Just two tips from a guy who deals with them on a regular basis.

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Failure?

If you have kids, you will at some point feel like a huge failure.  Whether you kids are unruly, or you do something that hurts their feelings, or maybe you just feel like you not good enough to raise children.  I know that every parent has felt like a failure at some point in time.  The thought occurred to me the other day as I was swimming in feelings of inadequacy as a parent.  I was reflecting on how often I feel like I mess up, and I then thought about God.  He is perfect and he has some children who act and do the most terrible things imaginable.  But he still loves each and every one of us and he is rooting for us to improve and learn and grow.  I know that if we keep our head up and do the best we can, our kids will be ok.  Sure they may end up on the Oprah show talking about us, but they will be alright and as long as we always love them they know they can turn to us.  So that is my goal, despite how I mess up, I want all my kids to know I love them and I am doing my best and that they can always come to me with any problem or decision they may face.

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Stalkers.

A very good friend of mine has a stalker.  I don't know about you but I have never had a situation like this strike close to home.  I mean every now and again the news reports about some star who has a stalker, and I know that people who aren't famous have them too.  But until it comes close to home, I think it is similar to many other problems we have in this life.  We tend to live in a "that won't happen to me" world.  It is sad to see someone who is dealing with a person who is obsessed.  This stalker is an intelligent person but when he sent my friend an e-mail it was quite clear to me from the first paragraph that he was either really drunk or way off his rocker.  Fortunately for my friend she got the police involved right away and he is now under arrest.  If you have someone who is stalking you take the threat seriously and get help from the police.  I know they can't do everything to protect you but it is better than nothing or at least is has been for my friend.

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