May 6th marks the first day of Summer in the the Chinese lunar calendar this year, and as such you may notice tempers calming down as we emerge from the livery Spring into the heart-filled Summer. Chinese theory maintains that Spring is the season of wood, which means growth, renewal, the start of projects, and inspiration. This also means that Spring is the season of frustration, irritability, and growing pains. Have you noticed this the past several months? During the pa

Recently I spent a delightful afternoon exchanging information about temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) with my colleague Bruce Austin, DMD, LMT, a dentist and massage therapist from Corvallis Oregon. He wanted to meet with me because in 2002 I developed a massage protocol for research on temporomandibular joint disorders in conjunction with Oregon School of Massage (OSM) and Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research (CHR). To prepare for this task, I had to learn

This is a very exciting time in dental research, as many natural medicines are showing promising clinical results for treating the two big oral diseases; tooth decay (cavities) and periodontal disease (gum disease/bone loss). Gum disease is the number one cause of tooth loss over a lifetime. Keeping our teeth into old age is especially important because all of the nutrient dense foods we eat, such as; vegetables, fruits, whole grains and proteins require lots of chewing, plus