A healthy New Year

Start off the New Year right – and stay healthy during the cold and flu season – by making it a habit to practice good oral hygiene.

This includes daily brushing and flossing, drinking fluoridated water and visiting your dentist regularly for a professional cleaning, exam and X-rays. Also limit intake of sugar-filled sodas, sweetened fruit and sports drinks and other unhealthy snacks, which cause tooth decay and have little (if any) nutritional value.

These are easy, cost-effective ways to protect your health (dental and overall) and prevent future problems. Recent scientific research suggests a link between periodontal (gum) disease and a variety of universal health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease and stroke, pregnancy complications and prostate cancer. 

Give your dentist complete details of your medical history. A thorough health history can alert dentists to specific concerns that may impact your oral health care.

In these tough economic times, stay healthy and save money by practicing good oral hygiene.

Dentists save mascot's smile
By Dave Buchanan, public information officer, UW-Parkside

When asked to describe how it felt to have a tooth knocked out, University of Wisconsin-Parkside mascot Ranger D. Bear said the pain was “almost unbearable.” Fortunately for the university’s favorite furry fan, a pair of understanding alumnae, Dr. Francesca DeRose and sister Dr. Nicolet DeRose, were close by and ready to restore Ranger Bear’s smile to its previous brilliance and toothsomeness (seems one of RDB’s fellow mascots dislodged the canine while they celebrated Fang’s birthday, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers’ mascot, in Appleton).

The DeRose sisters’ practice continues a family and community tradition in Racine. Their parents, Drs. Michael and Dorothy DeRose, prepared their first tray of instruments in the same downtown location more than 50 years ago.

Like most patients, Ranger Bear was a little nervous about his first visit to the dentist. He had heard dental work could be painful and sometimes discomforting. Drs. Nicolet and Francesca explained dentistry had come a long way since their parents first set up shop a half century ago. Ranger Bear was relieved. MORE>>