Lately there has been a lot of concerns about dental x-rays and the brain tumor, meningioma. First, please let me just reassure my patients that the office does not use conventional x-rays. We have digital x-rays, which uses only a fraction of conventional film x-rays. Second, in today’s world and economy, most dental offices don’t have more than one panoramic (full view of the mouth) x-ray taken but every 5 years. It’s because your insurance dictates it. Most patients just have the annual bitewing x-rays until some problems arise. Then we take periapical x-rays to diagnose for infections/fractures.
The patients that were surveyed in the research were answering questions based on their memory of dental visits. Of almost 2 decades in dentistry (because I started young), I don’t know any dentists that would take annual panoramic x-rays. The rules have changed over the past 2 decades. The dental community is very vocal about patient safety and well-being. As you continue to read the articles all over the internet, please remember that we all try to do our best for our patients. No ethical doctors out there intentionally harm their patients. We want you to live a healthy life, that’s why we’re in the healthcare profession. Healthy body starts with a healthy mouth.
But the decision to take x-rays or not still lies with you, our patients. We can only make recommendations, not demands, on what to do to assist you on your dental care. Most of you guys know I don’t make demands. I just gently request. Enjoy.

I had a patient who cried in the chair because her son has ADHD and some other medical conditions (I cannot mention here) that makes it difficult for him to focus. Home life was stressful. So school is a chore for everyone involved. Then I started to research more on the topic. I worked with a clinic a few years ago that specializes in therapy/treatment of ADD/ADHD children. Then I came across a book, authored by Stacey Turis, who has ADHD and is gifted, meaning, a brainiac. According to Turis, that’s a double whammy since her brain is always “on”. The title is “Here’s to Not Catching Our Hair on Fire”. It is hilarious, has lots of profanity and a good insight into how ADHD brains are wired differently, even for the most basic things.
Looking back, I think I have dealt with a lot of people with ADHD. It’s just that we didn’t have a name for it then. We just called them, “temperamental”. This book really presented a new way of dealing with different people for me. Sometimes I forget that some people just don’t get it. Their actions are not always performed with harmful intent. They probably just lacked common sense. Then again, a lot of people without ADHD lack common sense. See what I mean, this book gave me a new perspective on dealing with different people. It was such a fun book to read, I actually laughed out loud multiple times. Enjoy reading.
P.S. I do not get any royalty for recommending this book, unfortunately. But since I’m always asking for a good book to read, I thought I share this one with you guys.

Happy Chinese New year. This sign matches with mine so woohoo! I’m expecting a great year ahead. They said dragons are successful, self-assured (conceit?), passionate, brave, innovative, and quick-temper but they are to be honored and respected. Dragons are considered divine beasts, for they deliver good fortune and are masters of authority. With them, come success and power. They love to help but may have trouble receiving help. Oh.
Unlike those in fairytales, Chinese dragons are not to be slay. On that note, will someone please relay this message to my 2 y.o. boy? “Sword of truth, fly swift and sure, that evil dies and good endures.” Remember ‘em words? Sleeping Beauty. You would remember them too, if you had to read the 95 pages book at least 3x/night, every night for a few months. My kids couldn’t read yet but they could remember all the important quotes in the book because we read it THAT many times.
Happy Chinese/Vietnamese New Year. Enjoy the food.

Happy New Year! I’m so glad 2011 is over. It was a hard year for this soul. There were plenty of goods, but also plenty of ugh. The only awesomeness was Timothy. My heart went through all kinds of emotions, ups and downs, drama, and shocks. I started the year with a diet of chicken wraps. My weight plateaued then finally dipped at the end of the pregnancy. One can only eat so much chicken wraps in a day before one starts to get repulsed by them.
Then a week after labor, I painted my house. As others are recovering from birth, I discovered a hidden talent, which was later used to elaborate the decor of my children’s rooms. Who knew I got skillz. I never said they were great.

Okay, I had help with this room.

Remember, “No good deed goes unpunished?” Why does it always seem to happen to me? I tried to do a good deed but I got punished. I now realize that reality distortion is more common than thought. Steve Jobs may have mastered it, but I know some people who are very good at it, too. These victims of societal norms are oblivious to facts. Then again, why I continue to call a liar a liar is beyond me. One more thing that makes you go, “Hmmm.”

Later in the year, my girlfriend lost her husband on their 11th wedding anniversary. For that, I have not much to complain about. At the funeral, she showed pictures of their world travels before kids. Then it was mostly Disneyland pictures after kids. Oddly enough, it was funny. My husband and I were deeply affected by his passing. We promised ourselves that we would enjoy the journey, not just the destination, take more rest stops, sway with the rhythm, allow our kids to pee on the side of the freeway, focus on being better helicopter parents, reduce outside influence, etc. Basically, we agreed to just make it the best possible journey for our family. Let me tell you, just that reiteration of the obvious made a big difference and it was fun.

Yes, we went to Anaheim for some R&R. However, R&R we did not get. I walked about 8 miles/day x 4 days. I was either carrying a 22lb baby or pushing 70lbs in a stroller. My arms and legs are tone. My hip still hurts occasionally but it was worth it. My kids had so much fun, they were exhausted by the time we got to the hotel every night. Theodore landed a kiss from Belle (of Beauty and the Beast) during our lunch with the princesses and he still remembers it. My daughter talked to her favorite princess. She even wore princess outfits during our visit. It’s amazing how these adults were really into their characters. So the fixed price menu was worth it. Just the look of sheer joy on their faces was great. These princesses were really beautiful. I didn’t post a picture with Jasmine because she was pregnant. Nice, eh?
Yes, the magic of Disney is still there. However, we need to remember it’s the second happiest place on Earth. The first should be your home. Enjoy!
I hope everyone a better 2012.

Lately I’ve been spending time with my dad to get his medical benefits together. There are so many penalties and fines for older people that it amazes me. You get penalized if you don’t renew your Medi-Care in time. They count each month that you’ve “lapsed” and add the fines onto your monthly payment for the rest of your enrollment time. There are many parts to Medi-Care, and they expire at different times. Once you reached the maximum allowances (not your co pay but their cost of the medicine that you purchased) on medications, you are required to pay up to 50% out-of-pocket for the retail price. Sadly, that could add up quickly, depending on if you buy generics or not. Kaiser Senior Advantage Plan is part of Medi-Care and they have all these penalties on our older members because they can. They claimed it was the law/rule of Medi-Care. So, I ask you…How does one know how the system work if no one ever explains it? It’s like me getting my non-English speaking patients to sign consent form for treatment. It doesn’t stand up in court. It’s illegal. I am fluent in English and I don’t understand everything that I read or explained to me. If you start talking about board circuitry or directions, I’m lost. Next! You know what I mean? Just tell me left or right, not north, east, south or west. So for most older people, medical verbiage is foreign. It seems so careless.
My dad was forced into retirement because his company went bankrupt. He wanted to work and be active, chat with friends, have a reason to leave the house, etc. When he retired, he called me three times a day for weeks, asking me if I wanted to have lunch with him. I declined 99% of the time. Then I finally booked him multiple vacation packages to hang out with his friends in different states, Hawaii included. Then he started to come by my office with lunch for me and the girls. He was that bored! He wants to go back to school but he maxed out on his community college units. San Jose State University is too expensive at approximately $100/unit. He now wants to help my father-in-law trim my yard. Yes, my father-in-law is also my gardner because he, too, is bored and needs something to do. FYI…we hired my father-in-law to be our gardner so we can mow the lawn, trim the bushes, rake the leaves, etc. This is the martyrdom of being son/daughter. We will continue to do this as long as my husband doesn’t complain about mowing the lawn or trimming the bushes and my back/arms/legs don’t give out raking the leaves or trimming the hedges. Or, I continue to have extension cords that I can accidentally cut into. The joy of having “help” from our parents.

Even in dentistry, we are sad to lose Steve Jobs. Not that his company employs our friends and family members, but his incredible outreach to the community. He made technology user friendly. You don’t have to be a programmer to enjoy the computer. It’s because of his vision, the world now can connect to the internet with ease. My 2 y.o. son and 4 y.o. daughter know how use the computer because of the ipad. So to lose such an amazing person brings sadness to all of us. May his soul finally find its enlightenment (because he’s Buddhist) and rest in peace.
P.S. Did you know he invented the “mouse”? How awesome is that? Then the touch pad..

My kids’ first school field trip to the Children’s Discovery Museum. The kids had a lot of fun. Here, Tiana and her classmates were in an ambulance, checking out the dashboard. A lot of parents took time off to chaperone. By lunchtime, we were all exhausted. On the ride back to school, most parents were asleep on the bus with their kids. We were there for 2.5 hours.

This is a reminder from your other doctor: Okay people…it’s time for your flu shots.

Welcome, Kaia (pronounce Kai-a)! She was born on 7/14/11 at 7 lbs. 2 oz. Bobbie and Kaia are doing great recovering at home. We get pictures sent to us frequently and this one was our favorite. Who could not love that smile? We wish both mother and daughter all the best and hope to see them soon. Bob thanks you for all your well wishes and presents to Kaia.
P.S. Do NOT drink the water in this office…for obvious reasons.

He’s a happy baby. Please welcome Timothy to the clan. He was my reason for leaving. As the quote in that Jerry McGuire movie said, he, “complete (s) me.” Now, I have all the children I wanted. Every morning I wake up to a wide smiling face. Sometimes I feel his little hand scratching my arm when I lay next to him. It’s a wonderful feeling.
Theodore cannot say Timothy properly. He says, “Tim-thy”. So now we all call him “Tim-thy”. He knows his name and loves to listen to conversations. I just wish he realizes that I’m his mommy, not just his slave.