Maryland Sleep Dentist

Dentist takes a big bite of barbecue competition

This Saturday, James Stanford will trade his buttoned-down dentist's garb for a bright yellow T-shirt adorned with a bulldog and the words "Chompers BBQ" and head for a parking lot outside Harrah's casino in Maryland Heights. The affable grandfather will go into full competition mode, preparing a smorgasbord of meat for a competition sanctioned by the St. Louis BBQ Society.

What started about four years ago as a hobby and fundraising venture for the dental charity Give Kids a Smile has become a passion — one that includes Stanford's whole family and quite a few friends.

A typical day at a barbecue contest begins with setup around 6 or 7 a.m., followed by a health inspection of the meat. Then Stanford picks up his knives and starts checking his (extremely detailed) schedule. It's broken into half-hour increments that define his day: Cooking sauces, mixing rubs, putting meats on the grill, testing temperatures, taking meats off, and making sure the presentation of the finished dish is perfect before it's whisked off to the judges.

If Stanford is competing in a two-day contest, the list spans the night, with maybe an hour of sleep squeezed in. "I'm getting older — I need a little sleep!" he quipped.

A typical two-day contest menu includes brisket, pork steak, pork butt, pork ribs, chicken, chili, dessert and a category called chef's choice, which Stanford said often includes filets or lobster.

Winning dishes meet specific criteria including flavor, tenderness, uniformity of size, presentation and other standards that may or may not match the cook's preference. "You have to cook for the contest," Stanford explained. For example, at home his family devours ribs that are falling-off-the-bone tender. Not the judges. "If it falls off the bone, you get zero," he said.

Stanford grew up near Carrollton, Mo., so Kansas City-style barbecue, with its spicy, tomato-based sauce, is his gold standard. But sweeter sauces tend to win at local contests, such as the Wildwood competition where his pulled pork took 10th place last year.

Learning the ropes of contest barbecue fascinates Stanford. He and his daughter Allison man a customized smoker the size of a 300-gallon fuel tank while family and friends lend a hand as volunteer food vendors, making his a small operation. On the other hand, it's not uncommon for professional contest kitchens to be pulled in by tractor-trailers.

"My mother-in-law says it's unfair for amateurs to compete with restaurants, but to me that's where the fun is," Stanford said.

Severe Dental Phobia Relief with Conscious Sedation Dentistry ...

Conscious sedatio n is a type of anesthesia where the patient feels a no pain, but is generally verbally responsive.

Such anesthesia is mainly used when brain surgeries are performed, in order for the surgeon to see that no brain activities are hurt during the operation.

However, conscious sedation is also helping patients with dental anxiety; the patient will feel nothing during the dental procedure, because he is in an altered state of consciousness.

Conscious sedation dentistry is being currently performed in many US areas trained sedation dentists can now help patients with extreme anxiety/dental phobia by practicing this type of anesthesia.

According to sedation dentists, there are several advantages to this practice such as the fact that the patient is brought to an extremely relaxed state of mind, and this way the doctor is able to perform the dental services for even 4 hours long for the duration of the sedation. While patients are able to communicate, they are in a sort of a sleepy and very calm state which is extremely helpful.

According to a recent article that has been reviewed by the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, people who suffer from severe dental phobia continuously postpone their appointments with the dentist . This in turn will only make their situation worse; some people have to put up with quite bad gum infections and extreme pain, yet they still don’t make up their mind.

According to the same reviewed publication mentioned earlier, currently approximately 10% to 15% of the American citizens postpone their visits to the dentist because they suffer from extreme dental phobia.

There are so many patients that prefer to walk around with swollen faces from their dental infection, rather than go in to the dental office and have the problem fixed, simply because they are extremely scared.

When entering their dental practice, quite a few patients start shaking and they are pale, already on the verge of loosing consciousness. In such cases, the dentists try to discuss with them, try to gain their confidence and to tell the patients that everything is going to be alright.

Sedation dentists assure that conscious sedation is extremely safe, if it is performed by a highly skilled and trained professional. The substances that are generally administered in conscious sedation dentistry are the so called “laughing gas” or Nitrous Oxide, Lorazepam (anxiety medication), and Fentanyl which is an extremely powerful pain reliever.

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