The Tooth Fairy’s coffers must be running low, as kids across the land can expect less money under their pillow for the second year in a row. According to this year’s survey from Visa, the Tooth Fairy on average is leaving about $3.19 per lost tooth, down $0.24 from last year. That makes two years in a row that the Tooth Fairy has tightened purse strings and left pillows less lumpy than desired. And yet it’s still more than the quarters we used to get as kids, so consider yourselves lucky, kiddos. [via Visa’s Practical Money Skills] [More]
teeth
McDonald’s Airlifts Fries Into Japan, Another Report Of ‘Dental Material’ In Food
By 1.9.15
Sales are way down at McDonald’s restaurants in Japan, and the continuing French fry shortage isn’t the reason. The public has been understandably freaked out to learn that customers have found plastic pieces and a human tooth in their food recently, and now there’s a report that a diner found crunchy pieces in her burger later found to be the white resin-like material used to fill cavities. [More]
This $4,000 Toothbrush Exists Because People Will Apparently Pay $4,000 For A Toothbrush
By 10.6.14
You already have the private jet, the chalet in the Swiss Alps and a dog butler named Chauncy Ruffsworth to bring you gold-flaked cheese on platinum platters on whichever of the three yachts you’ve got waiting in only the fanciest of ports. What could you possibly need now? Presenting the latest addition in “What will rich people buy if given the chance”: A $4,000 toothbrush. [More]
Procter & Gamble Removes Microbeads From Toothpastes, Still Insists They’re Safe
By 9.19.14
Microbeads are little plastic beads that appear in face washes, toothpastes, and other personal-care items. They aren’t so beautiful for America’s waterways, where the tiny beads could end up in the stomachs of the fish and fowl we like to gaze at and eat. Some lawmakers want the beads banned, but Procter & Gamble is the latest personal-care products company to dump them voluntarily. [More]
Western Dental Upsells Relentlessly, Then Pulls Dirty Trick With Billing
By 7.26.10
Ryan recently went to a clinic operated by Western Dental Centers, a franchise that operates in California, Arizona and Nevada, and now he regrets that decision. He writes that first he was forced to endure $800 worth of upsells while he was stuck in the chair, even though he was just going in for a cleaning. What happened with billing, though, was worse and may lead to lasting credit issues. [More]
By 7.29.09
../..//2009/07/29/good-news-the-fda-says/
Good News: The FDA says your dental fillings aren’t going to give you mercury poisoning. They are, however, classifying “dental amalgam” as “Class II” or “moderate risk,” so they can “impose special controls.” [FDA] (Thanks, Laurie!)
10 Human Teeth Found In Walmart Wallet
By 3.4.09
According to the Cape Cod Times an unidentified shopper was browsing through the wallets at a Falmouth, MA Walmart, when he unzipped one of the compartments and found a surprise — ten human teeth. One of them even had a filling.
"Waiter, There's An Industrial Bolt In My Outback Steakhouse Potato Soup"
By 5.27.08
A Florida man dining at Outback Steakhouse found a delicious treat in his potato soup: a two-inch industrial bolt that chipped his tooth.
Crest Pro-Health Mouthwash: "I Woke Up With Brown Spots On My Teeth"
By 3.4.08
Reader Monique says that she used Crest Pro-Health Mouthwash and woke up with brown spots on her teeth and no sense of taste. How terrifying!
Lead Found In Dental Appliance
By 2.29.08
Finally! It’s been so long since we’ve posted about anything tainted with lead that we were starting to wonder if all the world’s trade problems had been resolved—but now comes a new study that found 210 parts per million (ppm) of lead in the porcelain veneer of a dental crown ordered from China. That’s a lot less than the CPSC’s current 600 ppm threshold, but a lot more than the international standard of only 90 ppm. The good news is it’s highly unlikely developing children will need a mouth full of crowns and bridges. The bad news is it’s yet another example of how hazardous material can slip undiscovered into the marketplace—and your mouth.
Americans Saving Money By Getting Dental Work In Mexico
By 2.6.08
Americans already save money by purchasing prescription drugs from Canada and getting plastic surgery in South America.
Excessive Fluoride Turns Americans Into Commies
By 3.24.06
We’ve always known that the adding of fluoride to our water supply is an insidious Communist plot, hatched by the diabolical mind of Kruschev himself. Government officials fiercely denied it, but they would, shadow puppets of the Soviet regime and all. Those of us in the know did not have our fears assuaged by the Soviet Union’s supposed dissolution. After all, that is just what they wanted us to think.
