"It’s not over until it’s over" is attributed to the great Yogi Berra, a baseball legend,

but it really took on new meaning for the St. Louis Cardinals this year, the 2011 World Series Champions. They were declared dead (according to all the stories I read today) multiple times during this past season. They came from far back late in the season to make it into the playoffs and probably used all 9 lives that they had and beat the Texas Rangers in 7 games after winning an improbable game 6 that might go down as one of the greatest world series games of all time. And for the record, I hope it is not the Texas Rangers next year as I have been an Angel fan since I saw them play a home game in Dodger Stadium way back in the early 1960’s.

I remember my very first wrestling match when I was a freshman in high school. My mom had met the Varsity wrestling coach, liked him, so she said I would go out for the team. So here I am and there is no score in the match and I am just terrified and really afraid of doing anything. I hear my freshman coach yelling "half nelson, half nelson" and I am still pretty much in fear. I don’t know what got over me but I actually listened to the coach, tried the half-nelson and in about 3 seconds I pinned my opponent and won my first ever wrestling match. And what I remember most was that my older brother was there. He was the quarterback of the varsity team and all he said was "that’s my brother". It’s just one of those memories that I won’t forget. The match wasn’t over until it was over.

My desire in this week’s blog is to somehow show that you can start to take personal responsibility for your health at any time; you don’t have to wait until it is too late. As a dentist I can tell you that I have often heard from patients about how diligent they were about flossing for a while, and then when they missed a few days, they just quit on the program. Heck, none of us are perfect, just get back up on the bicycle and keep riding. Since I know how dangerous gum disease is for your overall health I thought I would review with you some of the risk factors for gum disease as presented by Periofrogs

• Heredity

• Smoking

• Diabetes

• Stress

• Medication

• Nutrition

• Poor oral hygiene

• Faulty dentistry

• Hormonal variations

• Immunocompromise

• Connective tissue disease

• Previous history of active periodontal disease.

Not all of the risk factors have the same potential effect on you, diabetes and smoking are far more potent than faulty dental work or missed appointments.

The dentist’s job is to try and identify and modify risk factors. But none of the work we do in our dental offices to try and help you to health will really work if you, the patient, does not take some personal responsibility and do what is required by you at home…work on limiting your risk factors and have excellent home care.

It is not too late to start on new habits and action steps to improve your dental health, or for that matter, improving your overall health. After all, it’s not over until it’s over and as long as you have teeth, you can have gum disease. Why not try and be like the St. Louis Cardinals and believe in yourself when nobody else does.

And on a personal note, I know that Nathan Krauthamer is all smiles up in heaven as his beloved Cardinals won it all.