Once the gloriously warm and sunny days of late Spring or Summer arrive, slowly we begin to show a little more skin to the rest of the world. First, the tee-shirts and shorts get pulled out of the drawer, followed by sandals. No one wants their skin to be the same color as Swiss cheese – we want to look healthy and vibrant.
Well, it’s wonderful to sport that sun-kissed glow, but here are a few facts that might make you re-think that coveted golden brown skin. For example:
- Did you know that skin cancer is the most common of all cancers and accounts for nearly half of all cancers in the United States?
- More than 3.5 million cases of basal and squamous cell skin cancer are diagnosed in this country each year.
Take heart though, because, unlike other forms of cancer, all skin cancers are highly treatable if found early.
Though most of us enjoy good health, we should never take it for granted. Always there is the fear of the unknown, something catastrophic that would take our good health away and that is the scariest notion. Like the Zika virus for instance. Or last year’s widespread flu epidemic since the virulent virus did not match the flu serum for the 2014-2015 flu season.
From the Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend, sometimes it is all one big food fest, isn’t it? There are picnics and barbeques and family get-togethers galore. Most of these events involve potluck meals, with everyone toting along a different dish. Of course you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, so you have to try everyone’s special dish, and before long, you feel overstuffed and want to undo your clothes.
Chances are slim to none that your teeth are 100% perfect. If you made it through the childhood years and sports activities and managed not to chip, otherwise damage or lose a tooth or two along the way, please consider yourself lucky. The teeth you offered the Tooth Fairy in exchange for loose change do not count – we are talking about your permanent teeth.
You may gaze into the mirror and simply see a set of pearly whites grinning back at you, but those teeth are a little more complex in their composition – more than you probably have ever thought about.
