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Ooh! This is one of my favorite topics!When I got here in 1980, there was a TV ad for a toothpaste that ended with “let’s eat with our teeth for our whole life” while a famous celebrity bit into an apple. I didn’t get it at all, until someone explained that virtually all old people had dentures, and were only able to eat soft foods.I worked on an oral care brand a few years later, and spent a lot of time digging into the stats. The majority of women in their 20’s had at least one false tooth. By their 50’s most men and women had lost the majority of their teeth. It was shocking.There were a number of reasons for this state of affairs. One was that then — as now — Japan refused to fluoridate drinking water. (Someone died of fluoride poisoning, in Fukuoka in the 70’s if memory served, and people still maintain the belief that fluoridated drinking water is dangerous.)Also, Japanese toothpaste manufacturers were allowed to claim their products prevented cavities and gum disease, even if the amount of fluoride contained was well below the effective dose. (Unlike in the US, there is no requirement that effectiveness claims be substantiated with test results. If your product contains a particular ingredient, you can make all allowed claims for that ingredient.)Japanese insurance pays dentists only a small amount per visit. Consequently even a simple cleaning and scaling would be broken into four visits so the dentist could make more money. For the patient, however, it was a huge hassle, and many people only went to the dentist when they were in pain.Oral surgery and orthodonture were rare. As a result I saw some of the most bizarre mouths I’ve seen anywhere in the world. One girl I saw on the train had two rows of upper front teeth. Virtually everyone’s teeth were crooked, making them hard to clean. Silver fillings were common until about 20 years ago.Modern Japanese food is generally very soft, resulting in weakening of the gums, leading to tooth loss. Even in her 20’s my wife would slice the corn off the cob with a knife because her teeth were too weak (or so she thought).Dental knowledge was horrible. I sat in one focus group and listened to a man tell a story about his dentist telling him “Either your teeth are good or your gums are good. You can’t have both. You have good teeth, so you’re going to get gum disease.” The man said he was thinking of having all his teeth pulled out to protect his gums. I assumed he just had a psycho for a dentist, but I’ve heard variations on that story from at least a dozen other people.Fortunately, there’s a happy ending to this story. While the water is still without fluoride, the amount used in toothpastes have been increased. Fluoride treatments are now standard at most dentists. Braces have become very popular, even among adults. Knowledge of dental hygiene has improved considerably, to the point that it’s hard to make a living as a dentist just doing cavities and cleanings.The same thing happened in the US, maybe about 30 years ago. And, as in the US, Japanese dentists were economically motivated to branch out into invisible fillings, whitening, implants and other cosmetic treatments. (Enamels don’t seem to have made it here yet.)The difference is staggering. To (finally) answer your question, it is rare to see anyone in their 20’s who doesn’t have reasonably healthy, pleasant looking teeth. However it’s equally rare to find someone in their 50’s whose mouth isn’t a disaster.

People with autism frequently experience issues with sensory sensitivity.Learning how to better manage your anxiety will also help with sensory issues, as sensory overload feeds anxiety, and anxiety makes us more reactive to offensive sensory input:Grounding techniques / mindfulness meditation.Exercise.Sensory distraction types of self-care.Allow yourself time to pursue your own special interests. This is a vital part of self-care for many on the autism spectrum.Discover other aspects of self-care for you. You may find it hard to identify and appreciate the benefits of self-care activities. If so, you may benefit from keeping a log or chart of categories of self-care lined up with measures of anxiety stimulus, and anxiety response events.As a quick fix, noise isolating in-ear earbuds reduce ambient sound, even with no music or power. My 19yo son has his earbuds in most of the time, because in addition to sensory issues he has hyper-acute hearing, too. He also likes the fact that people are less likely to talk with him if he’s wearing them. :-)Noise Cancelling Vs. Noise Isolating Headphones – Forbes.comNoise cancelling versus noise isolating headphones. If you travel a lot, or are just a fan of a bit of quiet, you’ve been probably curious about the difference, and what is better. There are lots of headphones that claim “noise cancelling” when they're actually “noise isolating,” further confusing the issue.And although they both reduce noise, how they do it, and how well, is very different.…Here’s a couple other resources that may help you with overall anxiety reduction, and coping mechanisms when anxiety hits:Naomi Lauren's answer to How can I stop feeling uncomfortable?►https://sarahkreece.com/2011/09/30/grounding-techniques

Yes it is, but with a very important caveat. From the FDA's website (http://www.fda.gov/food/dietarysupplements/default.htm):FDA regulates both finished dietary supplement products and dietary ingredients under a different set of regulations than those covering "conventional" foods and drug products (prescription and Over-the-Counter). Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the dietary supplement or dietary ingredient manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a dietary supplement or ingredient is safe before it is marketed. FDA is responsible for taking action against any unsafe dietary supplement product after it reaches the market. Generally, manufacturers do not need to register their products with FDA nor get FDA approval before producing or selling dietary supplements.The net is that vitamins and supplements are not regulated in the way that drugs would be regulated, but they are treated more like food. Specifics here on the marketing claims that the producers are allowed to make:http://www.fda.gov/food/labelingnutrition/labelclaims/ucm111447.htmThis is meant to allow claims like, "calcium may help prevent osteoporosis" but does not allow supplements to claim they can directly prevent or cure medical conditions.But there is plenty of grey area, which has led to rapid growth of the supplement industry, resulting in many abuses. Manufacturers package and label their products as if they are drugs, position them as natural alternatives, and make claims that are carefully worded to right up to the boundary of what the law allows.An example: Airborne, which was marketed as a product that could prevent and cure colds caused by travelling. Well, they tried to not quite say that directly if you read their fine print, but all of their marketing and positioning certainly suggested that if you were travelling and didn't want to catch a cold, buy Airborne. Of course the product was just a mishmash of vitamin C and some "eastern" herbs with no evidence whatever that it had any impact on colds or your immune system.Fortunately they were busted and paid $23.3M to settle a class action lawsuit: http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/04/news/companies/airborne_settlement/Go to Whole Foods and see that several aisles of the store have been devoted to high-margin supplements - this is a direct outcome of DSHEA. You'll see poor saps spending hundreds of dollars on products they believe will improve their health, assuming that there must be some regulations protecting them. There are not. They are being suckered by a set of large companies who supported DSHEA and have developed expertise pushing the envelope of what claims DSHEA allows.Also thank Orrin Hatch, and the lobbying effort that led to the law back in 1994.http://www.science20.com/rugbyologist/festival_idiots_1_orrin_hatch_exempting_dietary_supplements_fda_approval