What is the BEST Way to Disinfect a Toothbrush?

In my previous blog article , I discussed the debate over whether a toothbrush becomes "contaminated" leading to the practice of throwing them out after a strep throat infection. Although the answer is still ambiguous whether it helps or not, the fact that even NEW toothbrushes contain harmful bacteria brings even more confusion on what to do. Going on the assumption that bacteria on a toothbrush is harmful and if a new or old toothbrush contain such bacteria, perhaps the best …

5/05/2013 0

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Dr. Chang Mentioned on NBC News Regarding Sound of One's Voice

Dr. Chang was mentioned today in a NBC News article on their popular Body Odds section. The article entitled "why you hate the sound of your own voice" describes why people sound and often dislike the way their voice sounds on a recording. What we hear when we speak, however, is air- and bone-conducted sounds. Vibrations from our vocal cords directly reach the cochlea. Our skulls deceive us by, in fact, lowering the frequency of these vibrations along the way, which is why we…

4/02/2013 0

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Some Facts About Q-Tips and Ears

In this week's episode of " Girls " (Season 2; Episode 9 "Girls Gets Dark"), Hannah grappling with OCD, inserted a Q-tip deep into her ear canal and "heard air hiss out the hole" due to perforating her eardrum . Although this scene came out of a TV show, this scenario is not uncommon and results in many ENT office visits every month for not only eardrum perforations , but bleeding due to trauma to the ear canal skin. Some facts about Q-tips as it rela…

3/17/2013 1

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New Video on Treatment of Hyper-Nasal Speech by Injection

Our office has created a new video that we have uploaded that shows how hyper-nasal speech can be corrected via injection of filler agents under endoscopic guidance. Keep in mind that this procedure ONLY works with small velopharyngeal insufficiency . Hyper-nasal speech  occurs when there is too much nasal airflow during speech as opposed to hypo-nasal speech (ie,  nasal obstruction ) which occurs when there is little or no nasal airflow during speech. In either case, the voice sounds &qu…

11/13/2012 0

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"Mother's Kiss" to Remove Nasal Foreign Bodies

In 1965, a general practitioner Vladimir Ctibor described the "Mother's Kiss" technique of removing nasal foreign bodies in a child. Essentially, a trusted adult (like a mother) places her mouth over the child's mouth as if to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. While pinching off the unaffected nostril, the adult than blows gently into the child's mouth until resistance is felt caused by the child closing the glottis . At that moment, the adult gives a sharp explosi…

10/24/2012 0

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How to "Grow" Clean Air

The New York Times published a story  regarding how common houseplants can purify the air of chemicals like benzene and formaldehyde. This claim is based on NASA research performed in the 1980s when the agency was trying to figure out ways to keep the air quality as clean as possible within enclosed habitats (like a space station). Of course, you can read the 27 page report ... or read a mom-friendly book that summarizes the findings in an easy-to-understand language from Amazon.com. &…

9/06/2012 0

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