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Weekend Roundup – Dental Health Posts

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david-gum-disease-book-author-2.jpgI thought it would be fun to hit some of the highlights of the week.

1.  I have a new profile at blog.toothygrinsstore.com, you can see it here.

2.  Coupons are becoming increasingly important, learn about a good one here (there is a link to other good coupons on that page as well).

3. A dry mouth is hazardous to your dental health,  read more here.

4. Aktiv-Oxigen drops are cool, learn more about why oxygen is important to your dental health here.

5. Customer insights on the Hydro Floss Oral Irrigator,  read this post here.

6.  Dental Health should be available to all, it really should.   There is an economic barrier for many that should and can be overcome,  read more here.

7.  Why I like Teeth Whitening pens more than trays.  I think this is a good read for those interested in having whiter teeth.   I no longer am.

8.  Tonsil Stones can be problematic,  learn more starting here.   They can be the source of both bad breath and other symptoms.  But sometimes, they don’t bother you.

9. The cost of the Hydro Floss Oral Irrigator, this post discusses why I personally think you cannot afford to NOT have one.

10 Bad breath is such a drag!  It sure is, isn’t it?   read more

Of course, there are many more posts here https://tobeinformed.com/feed and at  blog.toothygrinsstore.com

PS:  Grab your free report (requires email submit):  How To Stop Gum Disease In 4 Easy Steps

New Year’s Fireworks On Video!

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Every year, people light off all kinds of fireworks to celebrate the new year.

This Video shows how it was last year.

I placed the video over on the Toothy Grins Store site so I didn’t feel like
placing it over here as well.

Also, there are many new and interesting blog posts at Toothy. Everything from my favorite dental irrigator to the power of ozone.

Enjoy!

-David

Pro Pulse Oral Irrigator – Handle Replacements

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I recently had a customer who called me and asked if this hose assembly would fit his pro pulse oral irrigator that he bought from Amway about 28 years ago.

It appears that they are no longer made and have not been made for a very long time.

I told him that I seriously doubted that the hose we had would fit his machine.

He insisted that we send one to him.

He recently called me to say that the handle worked and his machine was working fine.   He ordered a second one to replace the hose on the one his neighbor has.

I do not guarantee in any way, shape or form that this handle assembly will work for you.    It seems to have worked for him.  But there are no guarantees.

In addition we don’t take returns or exchanged on this part, so if you buy it, it is complete at your own risk.

You will need a certain degree of mechanical skill and ability.   There are no directions.   So, don’t buy the part if you think it isn’t a job you can handle.

Also, we make no guarantees that it will fit your old Pro Pulse oral irrigator, despite the story of this particular customer.    If you are not sure, we suggest getting a new irrigator which you can find at the link below.

Here is where you can obtain the hose assembly:

https://www.toothygrinsstore.com/Hydro-Floss-Hose-Assembly-p/hoseassemblyforhydrofloss01.htm


About The Author
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On Becoming A Positive Thinker

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I have a confession to make:  I am not the greatest proponent of positive thinking.    In fact, I used to detest the whole idea.

Why do I have to ‘think’ positive?

In some ways, I still feel that way.   I never really want to close my eyes to the negative.    That seems like an Ostrich – you know how they bury their heads in the sand and leave the rest of their bodies exposed to what they are trying to escape?

Maybe, their predators thought they were a bush or tree when they did that?  I guess it is possible that strategy somehow served them over a period of thousands of years.

For people, I think it is not the same.  We simply cannot hide from what is around us.  We have to be forward and outward looking.

However, there is a problem with too much of that, you can easily become confused or befuddled between what is real and what is perceived.

Too much thinking can drive you crazy.   We must know when to draw the line and to say: No more!

We Have Been Trained

All of us went through a school system.  It was designed to teach us to be ‘critical thinkers’.

Critical thinking IS an important skill to have.  We need it.  We need to know how to look outwards and avoid potential problems.

But, we were never taught that we could run into danger if this way of thinking is over utilized.

No one told me when to STOP being critical.  And I bet they didn’t tell you where the boundary line between critical and negative thinking rested either!

There IS A Line – What Do You Do When There Isn’t Enough Information?

I am a very critical, even logical thinker.  So much so that I can get stuck in that mindset.  This is the danger for me personally.

As people, as human beings, we have limitations on our awareness.   We simply do not have enough ‘data’ to figure out everything.

We were taught to just keep thinking and thinking until we come to an answer.

To recognize that you simply don’t have enough information to form a conclusion is a skill that most of us were not taught, in my opinion.

The temptation is to keep digging for more information.  With the Internet that is an easier thing to do than ever before.

But, when do you stop trying to find an answer?   A difficult question to ask, isn’t it?

At some point, you have to say: That’s enough!

Belief or Faith Has A Place

When you don’t have the answer, you simply have to accept it.   There is no other option.  You could go insane trying to find an answer to a question that you simply cannot answer.

In the movie, A Beautiful Mind, John Nash looks in vain for pieces of an answer from various magazines and newspapers.   He takes it way too far and begins to find correlations that do not actually exist!

At some point, you have to say, “I cannot answer this question (dilemma, situation, etc), I simply don’t have enough information”.

Then there is nothing left to do, but have some kind of faith.  Perhaps it call comes back to that point where a parent tells you: “Everything is going to be alright.”

At some point we have to just simply believe that.

Positive Thinking Is About Stopping The Negative

We have to be positive to stop the negative.

Being positive just for the sake of it, is what I used to rebel against.

It isn’t until life’s problems become overwhelming and difficult that you begin to realize that the idea of positive thinking is to stop the negative thoughts.

In fact, there is nothing new in this.  The satyr, Candide, by Voltaire sums this up almost perfectly.

Our hero in that story has a penchant for positive thinking when everything is going wrong.  Things get worse and worse but he keeps thinking positive.

It is not until the end that Voltaire gets to the point.  Then you realize that that Positive Thinking is not about creating a false picture of reality.

Instead, it is about removing the unduly negative from our minds.

Voltaire seems to be saying, “Your mind is a garden and you have to constantly pull out the weeds in order to have a beautiful harvest and place to enjoy.”

How is your garden doing today? 

About the Author

Blog Monetization: Lifetime vs One Time Commissions

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I want to share my personal experience with an affiliate program that offers lifetime commissions so that others will know about the benefits.

The difference can be significant in monetary terms over the long haul.

Of course, you do need to be careful with what you get involved in.    Each program may be a little different.

First, let’s create a little understanding:

What Is A Lifetime Affiliate Program?

Perhaps the best way to explain is by example.  In the program that I am in, every time a customer makes a purchase using the same email address that their initial purchase through my affiliate link I continue to get a commission.

My commission level on this particular program is 20%.    I will not name the program for a number of reasons.   But this example is a real one.

Every time a customer makes a purchase on the same email address I will get paid again and again.

The company I am working with happens to have a rather large email database and they are not shy about emailing their entire list every couple of months or so.

Often times, they have a really big sale.   This can result in 20% commission on larger purchases that can be well over $100.

After working with them for several years I have thousands of people in their database.

One time commission programs by contrast are the most common.   You get a single commission for a single sale and if the company continues to sell to that person, you get nothing after that.

For example, I run a one time commission program at ToothyGrinsStore.com  – that is my online eCommerce store for dental health products.

Some Thoughts On Why This Has Worked For Me

1. The product line of this company consists of a consumable, repeat purchase product item.

2. The product serves a real purpose and a real need that is tied to the everyday lives of millions of people.

3. To continue to get benefit from this product, consumers must repurchase from time to time.

4. The company I work with manufactures their own product.  There is no third party to alter their pricing structure.  This may have a lot to do with why they can afford a 20% commission on a repeat basis.  Their RELATIVE cost of acquisition is much lower than other companies who sell the same product.

5. A customer’s first purchase may be relatively small, yielding a very small commission fee.   However, their subsequent purchase may be quite large once they are familiar with the product and what it can do for them. These repeat purchases occur every few months or so.   This is NOT a  auto billing or auto shipping program (which I detest and I’m sure you do to).

These are products that people are willing to buy more of – over and over again. (Repeat purchases).  This is particularly true when they are mailed sale pricing, which occurs every few months or so.

So long as they use the same email address I originally signed them up with, I will continue to get commissions into the future.   Over time, this can add up.

It is slow going in the beginning.

Some Things That Can Go Wrong With Lifetime Commission Programs

 

1. The company could go out of business.   This would be disastrous for all of the work I have done over the years.  This produces an element of instability into this income stream.  However, I do not think that will happen with this particular company.

2. The company could change their program.   What if they decided tomorrow that they no longer wanted to provide lifetime commissions?  This would also be disastrous for me.   However,  the people that I have been working with there seem to be particularly honest and ethical so far.  They do not seem to be the kind of people who would do such a thing.   Their business appears to be very stable and it seems unlikely that they would NEED to do this either.

However, you cannot be sure of who will gain control in the future and they may feel no particular obligation to honor the program that was started by someone else.

This is a fear that I have. But I hope that it will never happen.


Other Companies

I am in two other affiliate programs that offer lifetime commissions.  I see now evidence that they are making good on their promise.   I do not have a way to be 100% sure, but I can tell you that I am not earning as much from them.   And again, I am not sure but it seems that I am only really getting one-time commissions from them.

Companies do change their policies over time and one of them doesn’t even seem to offer an affiliate program anymore. But it seems that I am grandfathered in somehow. (This is not the good company that I mentioned above)

Yet, I remember their original pitch letter touted the benefits of lifetime commissions and how they understood what it was like to be an affiliate and how they were trustworthy.  It SOUNDED good.

I still earn from this second companies program, but I do not see any evidence that I am getting lifetime commissions – but again I could be wrong.

The third company also shows no indication of repeat sales or lifetime commissions.  In fact, a very rarely sell their products despite sending a great deal of traffic to their site.  They also have a high return rate.

When I ‘dared’ to question their program – the affiliate manager became very angry and deleted my honest questions in their forum.    This is a bad sign if an affiliate manager does that.  Perhaps there really is something to hide?

 

What Old School Marketers Say

 

I heard a rather famous Internet marketer say in an interview that lifetime commission programs are worthless.  I’m willing to be that most of the time that is true.

However, each situation, person, and company is unique and different.  So,  I would say that you need to test everything to see if it works for you.

You cannot go on such generalized statements.  If I had listened to that ‘old time’ marketer, I may have missed a wonderful opportunity.

 

Conclusions

Lifetime commission programs are getting harder and harder to find.   In addition, out of the three or four that I have tried, I have only developed a really good situation with one of them.

You can never take someone’s word that something does or does not work, you can only try it and see for yourself.

About The Author

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Are There Any Real Benefits To Having 90,000 Twitter Followers?

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The answer to this question really depends on how you look at it.  From my stand point it is worth it.

However, others may not want to put the time into developing their own twitter following.

Some may even say that it is foolish to spend time on twitter.  Of course, I disagree.   And I HAVE spent a lot of time developing a large following.

At the time of this writing @davesnape is currently sporting over 90,000 twitter followers.

 

Why Dave?

Good question.  In fact, even I have wondered at times why I was spending so much time on twitter.

If you look at it from a marketing perspective, very few sales come directly from twitter.

It truly is a micro blogging platform and the same basic reasons for why one blogs could easily apply on twitter as well.

With one exception: Conversations and interactions can occur MUCH faster on twitter.

The information exchange can be very fast and mutually beneficial as well. Or, sometimes not.

With bloggers who communicated through commenting systems, it may take a bit longer.

 

140 Characters

The information shared in each tweet is limited to 140 characters.  Therefore, people who communicate on twitter are FORCED to get the point more quickly.

Even if you ‘beat around the bush’ and take 3 tweets to communicate an idea or thought  you still did it in 420 characters.

By contrast, many blog posts can easily be that many WORDS.

 

The Biggest Drawback

This biggest con to working on twitter is the amount of time it takes.  You have to spend time engaging followers in conversation.   You have to be responsive to those who tweet to you directly  (minus spam tweets of course).  Many of the same concepts and ideas that apply to regular blogging also apply to Twitter.   It is not a whole lot different.

 

Tell Me What The Benefits Are

1. Exposure is a big benefit.  If you are a blogger currently then you know what it is to want people to come to your blog.   Everyone wants more people to visit their site.   With twitter, I sometimes track my links and I see that I often get 40 or so click throughs within just a few minutes of sending out a link.

2. Getting questions answered  – To  me this is one of the biggest benefits of utilizing twitter.   Say, for example, you have a question about a popular company who’s service you are thinking about utilizing.  With 90,000 followers (or perhaps less) you can send out a tweet and very often get a response from someone with an experience to share.

This also works for customer service.  When you use, for example, a particular web host and you are having trouble getting the customer service you need a quick tweet to their twitter handle can often get you in touch with someone who can do something.   I’ve seen this happen.

And this is purely speculation of course, but it seems to me that when a company is being addressed by someone with a LOT of twitter followers, they may feel a little more pressure to respond quicker and in a more positive way.

The conversation is public after all and their may be people watching.  The bigger the numbers, the bigger the potential that others are paying attention.

 

3. Camaraderie and Commiseration  –  There is a twitter user,  I won’t reveal her identity because I did not ask her permission to do so, who has some experience in investing.   Whenever I am in an investment and wondering if I should stay or go, we often get into a discussion about it.   She has provided a lot of insight that I would not have otherwise had.

It just plain makes me feel more comfortable to know that I can talk to SOMEONE about what I’m doing who understands.   And so it is with Twitter.  It is much quicker to find someone whom you can share information with on just about any topic you want to.

Today, I had a conversation  with a Navy corpsman.   Apparently, he had been following me for a while.   When I tweeted about coffee this morning he responded that he usually drinks about 8 cups a day.  From there we got into a discussion about the military.  He was surprised to discover that I am Ex-Navy myself.  From there, the conversation turned to what his plans might be when he leaves the military.

The point is, there is almost always someone to talk to or who may have just the right experience or expertise to ask a question of.   Your ability to engage in such a wide variety of conversational topics grows as your number of followers grows.  That makes sense because the number of people you have access to grows at the same time.

 

4. Establishing yourself as an expert.  Close to the time I wrote this post a twitter user approached me to ask my advice on the topic of getting more followers.  Of course, this type of thing is not just limited to one particular topic.

I often tweet about dental health and I frequently get questions related to that.   I run a dental health ecommerce store called Toothy Grins Store.  Do you think that answering questions related to my topic helps my brand?

 

Conclusion

I hope that I have done a good job of explaining why I think it is beneficial to spend time on Twitter.   I know that not everyone will agree with me or find value like I do.   Right now, I’m curious to hear your comments about what I wrote here.   You can comment below and use the tools below to share this post with others who may be interested in it as well.

About The Author

Ice Skaters in Germany

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This body of water is usually not cold enough to skate on in the winter time. But this year 2012 was different. For a few days, people were able to skate. The fire department makes the determination and they block off the areas that remain unsafe.

As we were walking to a nearby farm for refreshments we happened across a frozen lake full of skaters. I came back a couple of hours later to take the video. The previous time there were probably about 10 times the number of skaters that you see depicted in the video.

On our way to the farm, the roads were packed with people eager to get onto the ice. I don’t know how word spreads so fast. However, everyone found out somehow and the number of people there initially was quite large.

Ice skating is not something I have done personally. I like to watch it though.

Ice skate blades are generally quite sharp and you should exercise a good deal of caution whenever you are around ice skates or ice skaters.

As you can see the people in this German town really enjoy ice skating.

I hope you enjoyed the video. If you think others would like it to, share it:

Bacharach Germany – A Video of a Village in Bacharach Germany

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What is actually slightly humorous about this video is the conversation that I am having with a boy who speaks a different language.  Our inability to communicate effectively is the funny part.

Neither one of us knows what the other is saying most of the time.   If you know both German and English you will understand the problem.

Since making this video, I have learned a tiny bit more German and can understand a little more.  But even today, I think the conversation may not have gone much better.

What I think is interesting too is the use of the word ‘maths’.  I often hear people use this word when speaking English too.   There is no such word in the English language.

The word ‘math’, like the word ‘hair’, is both singular and plural in English.   However, this word DOES exist in German.   It is short for the word ‘mathematics’.

This is one of the many differences between the German and English language.   You can read more about the beginning of my German learning adventure here.

If you have comments or questions about this video, I hope that you will leave them below.

Germany is quite an interesting country.  If you are from America, the most notable thing is that the buildings and architecture is quite different than what we are used to in America.

Most of the buildings in Germany are made of stone and are built to last.  This is quite different from the wooden structures favored in the US.

Stone is a better choice if you want your home to last longer.   I think with a newly constructed house of wood in the US, you will have problems within 100 years.  Buildings in Germany can last quite a bit longer.

You will notice that the roofs are also different.

Unlike America, where you usually have to have your roof redone every 10 to 15 years, in Germany, they use something that is designed to last 50 years before repair becomes necessary.

In addition, Germany tightens its construction rules and regulations almost every year.  They are attempting to move all new construction towards the passive energy state.

Much energy is reclaimed this makes for better and better construction.  The downside is that if you want to build a new building in Germany, it is quite costly.

However, given that the building is likely to last longer, it seems to be a fair tradeoff.

This video depicts vineyards.  As you can guess, much wine is grown along this area.

Back in the days of the Roman Empire, this practice of wine growing on the hills was actually introduced or refined by the Romans.

In addition, the Romans were quite famous for the bath houses that they built.  These were constructed in a very interesting way.  You can still find the remnants of many in Germany today.  (none depicted in this video).

If you have comments or questions, please ask them below in the comment section.  Also, use the buttons below to share this post / video with others.

About The Author

How Does Oxygen Disassociate from Chlorine In A Stable Compound When Introduced Into A Solution…

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Below you will find the question I received via email today along with my fairly lame answer.

But, if you are a scientist or someone with sufficient knowledge to explain this question, please leave your answer in the comment section below.

An example of such a compound would be CLO2

Here is the question I received and the answer given:

Question:  

I had some questions concerning ingredients in some of the products you sell. If OXYD-8 is stabilized, why is it effective in delivering oxygen? What are the chemical mechanisms of sodium chlorite in the “PerioTherapy Treatment Gel/Paste?” Any information on the above is appreciated. Thanks.

Regards,

Answer:  

I appreciate your question.   I am unable to give you the chemical reasons why the oxygen disassociates from the other atoms.

I accept that it does when introduced into the environment of the mouth.

Perhaps your question would best be directed to an organic chemistry expert or perhaps even a professor at your local college?

It is impossible for me to keep up on the things that I learned over 20 years ago I am sad to say.

You’ll need to do a little research on this one to obtain the answer you are looking for.

I would suggest dropping into a local community college and seeking out  a chemistry instructor.  They will probably be more than happy to share their expertise.

Sorry that I can not give you the details you are looking for.

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If anyone is able to answer this question, please respond in the comment section below.

Thank you in advance for your answers / comments!