TOP 5 DECORATING TIPS

Interior Designer Jane Lockhart of Jane Lockhart Interior Design offers her top five decorating tips for creating dining rooms that are inviting, comfortable and gorgeous!

1. Colour

Pale blue walls add a cool, calm effect to a dining room and lets the furniture be the star of the show...next to the fabulous meal, of course!

2. Lighting Hang your chandelier five feet from the floor to the bottom ofthe chandelier or 30 inches from the table top to the bottom ofthe chandelier. Put dining room lights on a dimmer to create the right ambiance.

3. Seating Changing seat coverings on dining room chairs can make a huge difference, both in design and comfort. Choose durable materials like Robert Allens Sensuede, shown here in Royal Blue. Its available in several colours and spills and stains can be easily wiped up with a damp cloth.

4. Furnishings Recycle old furniture and renew old finishes. Not only does this save money, its good for the environment. Good quality dining - room suites like the one featured here can be found at flea markets and garage sales for a song. Follow Ralph Swans instructions for refinishing and youll end up with a great conversation piece that youll be proud of.

5. Floors A pretty area rug will add a touch of formality to any dining room. Youll find great deals on traditional Persian rugs at country auction sales and garage sales. If youre removing an old broadloom think about salvaging a piece and have it bound with a fabric boarder in a complementary colour for an inexpensive option.

Frequent Headaches?

You may need to talk to your dentist

Do you suffer from frequent headaches, neck and shoulder pain, ringing or a feeling of fullness in your ears, vertigo, or locking, popping or clicking in your jaw joints ? How can this be related to your teeth and can your dentist help ?

By Dr. David Babin

Neuromuscular Dentistry serves to correct the bite and realign the jaw to an optimal physiological position. Neuromuscular dentists understand the relationship between the jaw joint and the surrounding tissues. The solution to relieve jaw pain is to realign the jaw and the jaw joint. A neuromuscular dentist uses instruments to record the bite and identify the misalignment. Neuromuscular dentistry is used to find a balance between where we want the teeth to be and where the joints and muscles are comfortable; orthotics are used to accomplish this. An orthotic is a clear acrylic device that helps achieve the proper bite alignment; it balances the mouth, aligning the teeth and jaws into their optimal position. Goals of dental orthotics include:

protecting the teeth from grinding and clenching

helping reposition the jaw joint to its proper location

removing torque and allowing the muscles to relax

realigning the patients bite to its optimal position

Stas

Temporomandibular Joint Disorder is a condition in which the bite is misaligned, causing serious and painful health problems. When the jaw is misaligned, the hard and soft tissues are affected and problems can result, such as: headaches, jaw pain, neck and shoulder pain, tinnitus, and clicking, popping or grinding sounds in the jaw joint. In a number of cases, these symptoms are the result of TMD, also known asTMJ.

TMD is often associated with malocclusion, which means that the upper and lower teeth do not close together correcdy. A bad bite can be the result of genetics, trauma to the TMJ, missing teeth and the resulting shifting, improperly fitting dental fillings or crowns, airway issues, childhood allergies and past orthodontics. When teeth are misaligned, they cannot support the facial muscles in chewing and swallowing. These muscles become strained, resulting in pain throughout the face, arms, shoulders and neck. Although teeth may look beautiful or have received orthodontic work for alignment, the muscles and joints may not be comfortable or in a proper physiologic position. Most of the deep grooves at the gum line arent from brushing. These abfractions are caused by microfractures in the teeth from biting forces, which are also signs of TMD.

Orthotics are generally worn full time for three months, during which time dentists adjust them to "fine tune" the bite and find the ideal position. Once the bite is stable, dentists determine the dental care needed to maintain it. The treatment can consist of any one or a combination of:

1) Restorative treatment using crowns, veneers, onlays and fillings

2) Orthodontics

3) Coronoplasty

4) Long term orthotic wear

Once the bite is realigned pain that resulted from the imbalance is reduced or disappears completely.