Dental News - Some eristic thoughts ...

David L. Hoexter, USA

Fri. 19 July 2013

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NEW YORK, N.Y., USA: I believe the reason we have as many hurricanes as we have had in recent years is because of the 24-hour weather channel. Jerry Della Femina, the wonderful author, as well as editor of “The Independent,” once wrote that as a young boy he knew what the weather would be.

Every day his mother would open her window, stick her head out and see if it was raining. She would then tell him if he should wear rubber boots or not.

I believe my tooth whitener of 35 percent carbamide peroxide will whiten my patients’ teeth better than my colleagues’ 35 percent carbamide peroxide will whiten their patients’ teeth.

How come there are so many tuna fish still swimming about — with all that mercury?

Should there be a limit to the physical size of a booth at a dental convention? This might encourage the “mom-and-pop” booths to hang in there (at least until they are bought out by the bigger booths).

Was that a placard seen at the annual endodontics meeting stating, “Use the strongest dose of peroxide twice a day to whiten your teeth.”? Good for endo business.

“Some days you’re the dog; and some days you’re the hydrant.” — Lafontant

Editorial note: For those of you who might be wondering, here is an explanation of the word “eristic” from www.britannica.com: “Eristic, (from Greek eristikos, “fond of wrangling”), argumentation that makes successful disputation an end in itself rather than a means of approaching truth. Such argumentation reduces philosophical inquiry to a rhetorical exercise. Eristic argument is closely associated with the Sophists and was ridiculed by Plato in his dialogue Euthydemus. The term is often used more broadly to characterize arguments that rely on subtle but specious forms of reasoning.”

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