Skip to main content

This is a Public Service Announcement

It is a rainy Friday night. A slight-framed 30-something woman with mousy brown hair quickly scans the sidewalk before ducking in the back door of the community church. The bright light makes her squint as she looks around the conference room. Plain white walls. Dark stained trim. A dry erase board and a circle of folding chairs. She sighs in relief when she spots the snack table across the room. Maybe a cookie and a cuppa joe will relax me, she thinks as she crosses the room. What the #$#%%! she mutters as she sees the table is not full of sweet goodies but carrot and celery sticks and a carafe of water.
Reluctantly, she takes some vegetables and sits down. A woman with khakis and Birkenstocks enters the room. She's the group leader. She introduces herself and it begins. When it is her turn, the mousy brown haired woman stands up and speaks clearly. It is time to confess: Hello. My name is Alyssa *(real name withheld) and I have a sweet tooth.
Fortunately in this day and age, medical research has proven that addictions are not our own decisions. It is genetic. We can't resist our urges. We try to fight them but they overtake us and eat us alive. Too bad that it is her own eating that is the demise of our Alyssa. Poor Alyssa who was more or less born with this malicious disease. With rotten teeth.
12 step programs. MART: Mothers Against Rotten Teeth, PFPWRT: Parents and Friends of People with Rotten Teeth. There's help. There's support. But, is there an end to this epidemic? The recovery is painful. Enduring the pain one minute with endless needles and drills. Sweat pouring, stomach turning. Gripping the chair. Paper bibs and bad wall and ceiling art. No end in sight. Pain. Intense pain.
Success is driving home, your face looking like you have Bells-Palsy. Let's go back to our mousy friend Alyssa. After her treatment she's home-free and cavity-free. On the way home, to celebrate, she stops at the local quickie mart to get a cappuccino from the machine and a donut. She at least remembers to get a straw for the cappuccino. Only a little bit slips out of the corner of her numb mouth as she drives home, sipping and munching her sugary treats. Is it really her fault, that unlike the rest of the population, she can't just have a little bit of sugar? That her teeth soak it up, let it dig in and rot, rot until there's no turning back and no happy ending and she looses tooth after tooth. Not even a guilty brushing is going to save these less-than-pearly whites.
You can help. For just $1 a day you can sponsor our friend Alyssa. Your support will buy Alyssa dental floss, a state of the art Oral-B tooth brush and pay the interest toward her $18,000 Care Credit card balance. You can make a difference. Please call 1-800-BAD-TEETH right now. With your pledge you'll receive a PanX of Alyssa's teeth and a monthly newsletter telling the story of others just like Alyssa who need our help. Act now.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Somebody Who Matters

At first glance, one may not think that my mom and I are alike. Moe is shy and reserved. She's calm and thoughtful. She's a good listener and keeps things to herself. She's grounded and sensible. She's practical. You may be laughing now if you know me. I'm loud and outspoken. I'm dramatic and irrational. I talk too much and share too much. My head is often in the clouds and I lack common sense. I 'm a dreamer. How did this kid come from that mom? Well, if you know me, you also know that my mom has had the greatest impact on me and that we are actually very much alike. For example, Moe isn't really shy or reserved. She's just waiting for the right time to tell you what she thinks and you're going to hear it whether or not you like it. She uses the F-bomb freely, and sometimes inappropriately. In her own right, she is a feminist. She's a loyal friend. She's the family organizer. She has a quirky sense of humor and knows not to take hersel...
Post a Comment
Read more

Facebook Reality Check

I am a big facebook user. No, I don't play Farmville or Candy Crush Saga but I spend at least 15 minutes on the site daily. I have read many articles about how facebook kills one's self esteem because people use the site to boast and brag about their awesome lives, which in turn makes others feel badly about their own. We all know that facebook is a slice of one's life or maybe a projection of the life they want to live. Anybody who isn't a fool should realize that. As a frequent facebooker and hardcore extrovert, with a lack of a strong filter, I find this whole situation to be a dilemma. What is worse, reading about someone's awesome day and seeing a picture of how fabulous they looked during their awesome day, or reading about their terrible day, looking at angry political memes, or rants about the bad customer service they received? Do you want to read about how someone had the best night ever with their bestest buds (you not included) or that they have been ...
1 comment
Read more

Tips for Transitioning to Back-To-School Time

Transitions can be hard for kids with special needs, making the back-to-school schedule particularly challenging for them and their families. Here are some tips for making that transition, and first few months of the fall, easier for everyone. Map out a Schedule and Reduce Anxiety While no kid wants to start talking about going back to school when he or she is still enjoying their summer vacation, it’s important to reduce anxiety by starting to talk about what the back-to-school schedule is going to look like. While this could mean creating a visual schedule or developing a calendar, it’s important to talk with your child about what the back-to-school schedule is going to look like, including wake up time, what happens during the day, after school, right up until bedtime. Developing a schedule can hopefully alleviate some of your child's stress about what to expect during the transition and can also open up a dialogue for what questions and concerns your child has. Have your chil...
Post a Comment
Read more