An Elbow and Momentum

What you see in the following pictures is a vivid example of what happens when an elbow hits a mouth with significant force. You will notice the picture that shows the broken tooth from the front. Another shot shows the same tooth from behind. Notice the red gelatinous mass in the middle of it. That's the nerve. He said it didn't hurt much except when he had a drink of cold water. Well this was root canal city. Later a ceramic crown will be fabricated. The problem is matching the shade for a big central incisor like this one. His teeth will change shade over the years and it might end up being a little out of sync. The picture that shows the temporary repair of the tooth is interesting. They had the part that broke off. It was in a Kleenex overnight so it was pretty dry and desiccated which makes the tooth much lighter in color. I etched the enamel on the tooth in the mouth and the tooth fragment; used bonding solution and resin filling material and bonded the two together temporarily. The tough part is the smaller tooth behind this one. It has a horizontal root fracture from the traumatic blow and will need to be extracted, have an implant placed and a crown. This young man is only 17 years old. So this is about a $4-5 thousand dollar deal here. The take home message is WEAR A MOUTHGUARD! Mouthguards really help prevent concussions but they can protect the teeth and this may have been avoidable. $40 for a mouthguard--great prevention and protection.

A Lone Man

The wife fled to Hell, I mean Las Vegas to visit a cousin. So I will be batchin' it for a couple of days. No problem though, I have plenty of rations and enough to do to keep me busy.

If

When I think of stuff like this I think I must be alone because I agree with almost all of it.

Pumpkins in the Fall

What an absolutely wonderful season of the year. Fall on the Wasatch Front. Here you can see the vista as we look from the Pack Pumpkin Patch down Glover's Lane in Farmington, UT. The view is eastward towards Farmington Canyon. The foliage has pretty much changed in the mountains and the colors are working their way down on the valley flower. My grandsons and our daughter Becki have spent the night with us and the morning. Her husband Kyle had a rough night shift in the ICU at the U of U hospital. We took the boys down to see the pumpkins and try their luck at the Hay Maze. It is free of charge. The only things you pay for are the pumpkins that can be selected from the field. They have little carts you can push out there and load the pumpkins, 25 cents a pound. We headed over to Taco Time for lunch. As we left after eating the oldest grandson Weston complained that he didn't feel good. Projectile vomit at the entrance to the store. Not a savory advertisement for the quality of the food I guess. I think the real culprit was the four hands full of jelly beans he had just before going to the Farm. I did have the chance to play a quick round of 18 holes early. Finished in 1 hour 19 minutes time. What a crisp morning! I could see my breath, but there was no frost on the pumpkin, so to speak. The 5:30 am workout slowed me down a little I think. Man, I have a lot of fall gardening to get done though. Extract the annuals, get the weeds down, Preen the beds, light fertilizer. No rest for the wicked I guess.

City Creek Canyon

I took off this morning for a quick ride up City Creek Canyon on the bike. I have never done it before so I had a little trepidation because whenever one hears the word "canyon" one thinks of a long uphill climb. My friend Paul who also fabricates my removable prosthetics ie dentures for my clients is a big time biker; big time. He went with me and actually thought it would be a great idea for me to do it. It is a beautiful ride right now. Leaves are different colors and it is cool. We took off from the State Capitol area at 9 AM and made it to the top of the road in 59 minutes. He said that wasn't too bad for a first time rider like myself. I did have to stop for about a minute and catch my breath and walk but it was just for a minute. What a workout! Coming down we were topping out at 30 mph for a few stretches, but you have to be careful because there is moisture on the road with leaves and stuff so it is possible to 'biff it' big time. Anyway, I had a beautiful look at City Creek, I had a tough ride for me and I am ready to go for the rest of the weekend.

Younger, or Where is the Fountain of Youth

I have had some aches and pains lately. My worst is my right shoulder, the casualty of a small fall on my bike when I didn't get my shoes unclipped from the pedals. I have been trying to stay in decent shape but I have an affinity to ice cream and cookies-fresh ones that are soft with a glass of milk. Hence I have more of me than I want to admit, but nobody seems willing to call me fat.

I came across this book somehow, I forget. But the story is I read it last Saturday and Sunday and I"ll be darned if it doesn't have some fascinating precepts and ideas. I have been involved in Body for Life and some other things to try and keep the muscles up to snuff. Frankly most of the suggestions and directions that come from these kinds of books are similar. This one though has a philosophy of life that I had not considered but as I think more about it, it is obvious that these guidelines will help us much more than just about anything. Read it. Think about it. The tough part--well your part time job until you retire and your full time job when you retire is to exercise your body at least six days a week and DON'T EAT CRAP! That is a small sample of what they have to say but there is more and it is worth the 5 or 6 hours it takes to get through it.