February is full of fun and exciting holidays and celebrations, however, one important aspect to February is Dental Health Month!

It is during February that some dentists and their assistants make special trips to schools to talk to students about how to keep their teeth clean and healthy.

Most dentists agree that prevention is key. Once a tooth has decay, the only way to fix it is with a trip to the dentist. This can sometimes be a traumatic experience for the patient and an unexpected financial expense for the parents.

Dentists recommend that parents begin brushing their children's teeth as soon as they begin to come in. At first, a soft cloth is all that is needed twice a day, but as the child grows, dentists recommend a soft toothbrush used twice a day. Doing this early in life will build life long habits on the importance of brushing.

Children should be encouraged to eat healthy foods and limit their intake of sweet, sticky foods. Childen should be encouraged to brush at least twice a day, and after meals when possible. No time to brush your teeth after lunch at school? No, problem, end your lunch by eating a nice crisp apple...nature's toothbrush!

Revenge on an Aching Tooth

by Winifred Sackville Stoner, Jr.

One time I had an awful pain
    Which made me groan and cry;
It felt like daggers in my head
    Which stabbed at my right eye.

It was the toothache, mother said,
    And as she petted me,
She quite agreed with Bobby Burns
    That nothing worse could be.

Not even chiggers, ainhum, yaws,
    Or leprosy and sprue,
With craw-craw and the Dhobie itch,
    Piedra and goundou.

Beriberi and pinta, too,
    With cholera and boils,
And dengue and bubonic plague
    Or dreadful serpents' coils.

With fevers scarlet, yellow, black
    And measles and the mumps,
Green apple-colic, whooping cough,
    And chicken-pox's bumps.

In Mother's sympathy for me
    No comfort could I find,
And so I sought the dentist's aid,
    Where forceps cruel but kind

Removed the sore and aching tooth,
    And freed me from the pang,
Which by the noted Bobby Burns
    Was called "A venomed stang."

And when the dentist gave to me
    The very little thing
Which for so long had tortured me
    With joy I longed to sing.

And I resolved to sugar it
    And watch it every day,
While it was having dreadful pangs
    And I could laugh and play.