Teeth

Dr. Gary D. Hack is an associate professor and director of clinical simulation in the Department of Endodontics, Prosthodontics and Operative Dentistry at the University of Maryland Dental School. He answered questions about dental care in a live chat on our Picture of Health blog. Here's an edited transcript of some of the questions and answers: Question: How often should you brush your teeth? Answer: You should brush at least twice a day and floss at least once a day. If you just had a professional dental cleaning done, plaque would form on your teeth and gums within 24 hours.

Today is Presidents Day, a time for Americans to honor and remember the founding fathers. And in Baltimore, it's also a good reminder to floss. For while George Washington gave so much to his country, the family of Washington's dentist gave his false teeth to Baltimore. And if that's not worth a plug in the history books, at least it was worth a dollar off admission to the National Museum of Dentistry on Greene Street Sunday, in honor of its most cherished artifact. The pre-Presidents Day promotion (the museum isn't opened on Mondays)

Salary: $80,000 Age: 53 Years on the job: 34 How he got started: After graduating from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Tony Vlassis went to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to pursue an engineering degree. After two years, he was offered a job with Friendship Dental Laboratories Inc. as a ceramist. He is now a master ceramist and manager of the ceramic department. Vlassis is certified through the Productivity Training Corp. as a dental technician.

The Chesapeake Bay may be a beloved resource, but we have cruelly mistreated the object of our affections. After many years of knowing how urgently we must protect it, the bay is still far from the clean, vital, vibrant watershed it should be. Its poor health reflects a failure by all of us over decades. By relying on a "voluntary" approach in our cleanup efforts, we are nowhere near the goals that were set to restore this national treasure, and nowhere near a healthy bay. It is time for people to demand that their elected representatives act to do something about a dying bay and a region fraught with polluted and degraded streams and rivers.

On a day when several AFC wild-card contenders lost, the Ravens found a way to survive. With the Pittsburgh Steelers playing without two of their top stars - quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and safety Troy Polamalu - the Ravens still needed Billy Cundiff's 29-yard game-winning field goal in overtime to escape with a 20-17 win before an announced 71,314 at M&T Bank Stadium. The game turned on a play by little-used second-round pick Paul Kruger, who intercepted former third-string quarterback Dennis Dixon and returned his first career pick 26 yards to the Steelers' 28-yard line.

The "Meatless Monday" program in Baltimore City school cafeterias has the meat industry madder than a factory-farmed hen. A spokeswoman for the American Meat Institute warned on CNN this week that students aren't getting enough protein. The Animal Agriculture Alliance urged people "shocked" by the once-weekly absence of meat on school menus to write schools chief Andr?s Alonso "to ensure this effort does not spread." Thought to be a first for a public school district, Baltimore's Meatless Monday program is meant to conserve scarce cafeteria funds and make lunches more healthful, not to convert students to vegetarianism, district officials say. Using ingredients like beans and cheese, the meals meet the same protein requirements as ordinary school lunches, the district's dietitian has said.

For all but one week of the year, the historic East Course at Baltimore Country Club is a lush, well-manicured private sanctuary for members, a tough but fair test that everyone from scratch players to those who shoot in triple digits can appreciate. But during the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, which begins Thursday in Timonium, the iconic club long known as Five Farms is transformed. This lovely octogenarian that was laid out by legendary golf architect A.W. Tillinghast in the 1920s and renovated four years ago by Kentucky designer Keith Foster has a bit of a modern-day beast added to its timeless beauty.

Sometimes faith is not enough. Last Sunday in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI stood in the warm Basilica of St. Paul and announced that scientists had conducted carbon-dating tests on bone fragments found in what has long been believed to be the sarcophagus of the Apostle Paul. According to Pope Benedict, "This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul." Thank God. I feel better already. Why do we insist on this stuff? If it's "unanimous and uncontested," what's the point?

More than 140,000 people in the U.S. die each year from stroke, making it the country's second leading cause of death for women, and the third for men. About 795,000 strokes occur each year. At least one-quarter occur in people younger than 65 years, making it a health subject important to all age groups. Dr. Marian LaMonte, neurology chief at St. Agnes Hospital, presents a free talk on strokes at 6 p.m. May 12 at the hospital. She offers these tips: 1 Know the warning signs of stroke.