Cent4dent Blog

CANDY for US Troops
Local Dentist Sends almost 3 Tons of Candy to
US Armed Forces this Halloween

Haddon Heights, NJ – A dentist collecting candy to get it off the streets and out of local mouths

But where to put it? Two years ago, Dr. Markus came up with the idea to distribute it to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the soldiers could use it to befriend local children. Two of the women who work for him have brothers stationed in harm’s way, and they agreed, the troops could really use the candy.

Last year, they collected and distributed about 1500 pounds of candy. This year, collections topped 5300 pounds! Last year, logistics became an obstacle: how to get all that candy out to the troops. But with the help of a great group of local volunteers it all became possible. This year, one of our patients undertook the task of trucking the candy where it had to go. “We truly couldn’t do this without the help of David Weiss and Paul Abrams from NFI Industries, (National Freight) which also collected candy in their local offices,” said Markus.

The trailer left last Thursday to an organization named Keystone Soldiers (www.keystonesoldiers.com) in Reading, PA, which is a 100% volunteer non-profit organization. Through their organization and website you can show your support by becoming a volunteer, writing letters and cards to our troops or sending a care package. You may also make a donation to help with postage or you can sponsor a special care package to one of our troops.

We would be remiss without thanking a local restaurant, BokBok Fresh, on White Horse Pike in Barrington which provided 500 buy one, get one free offer for kids’ meals. For every pound of candy that kids brought in, they got a raffle ticket. One lucky winner, Tim Renzi of Haddonfield won a 1 Gigabyte mp3 player donated by Jesse, owner of the Marlton Radio Shack. Chuck, from Sign-A-Rama of Cherry Hill donated the sign on the lawn, Fox TV and 6 ABC provided great coverage as well. RCF Containers donated all the boxes we needed to ship the candy in.

“Fifty-three hundred pounds exceeded all expectations, and certainly it would be difficult to imagine that any other area of the country could beat the donations from the citizens of South Jersey,” said Dr. Markus. There were over 200 offices nationwide involved in this campaign. “Next year, we hope to fill up the entire trailer,” said assistants. We have also asked the soldiers to post pictures of the way they’ve used the candy to the weblog on our website in thank you notes that we’ve distributed in all the boxes. Additionally, many local schools did major collections, some collecting over 600 pounds of candy. Many of the students wrote beautiful thank you notes to the soldiers, which we included randomly in the boxes we’ve shipped.

There was also an added bonus for parents: They received a gift certificate that can be worth over $300 for treatment in our office in gratitude. The big story though, is the smiles on the kids faces that we saw when they know that something they worked on went for the better good.

This dentist supports the mercury filling ban in Philadelphia and here’s why.

Re: AMALGAM BILL IN PHILADELPHIA
Bill No. 040904, The Use of Mercury in Dentistry

This bill is scheduled for a vote by City Council on Thursday, November 15, sometime between 9 a.m. and noon.

Dear Council:
I understand that there is an email and fax campaign attempting to undermine the hard work that Consumers for Dental Choice has done here in Philadelphia. I encourage you to study the science and not accept the diatribe that the ADA and its lemmings put forward about the fact that the dental fillings which contain 50% mercury (the most toxic, naturally-occurring substance on the planet) is safe for the environment, and becomes inert once placed in the mouth.

If that were true, why would the ADA have been telling dentists for decades to keep unused scraps of filling material in a tightly-closed glass jar, under a high specific gravity fluid, like antifreeze? Why would they be encouraging dentists to install mercury separators on their buildings to remove mercury before it hits the sewage treatment facilities?

I encourage you to visit the mercury links page of my website www.cent4dent.com, to learn why when in September of 2006, the FDA panel convened to determine mercury safety voted 13-7 against the hypothesis that mercury fillings were safe. The chief argument of the pro-mercury side was not safety, but cost.

I questioned the panel as to what they felt the decrease in cost would be on the medical side of the ledger, with all the savings anticipated due to the unnecessary medical treatments that are being rendered to treat patients for symptoms that their physicians have failed to recognize as mercury poisoning.

Stephen J Markus, DMD FACE
Pa License 1xxx0
drmarkus@cent4dent.com
1 800 520 3440

Posted – November 6, 2007 – this was the final press release sent. We intend this aspect of the blog to be for pictures to be submitted by our troops showing how the candy was put to use.

CANDY for US Troops

Local Children to Donate their Collected Candy this Halloween-

Over 2,000 Pounds Collected thus far!

Haddon Heights, NJ – A dentist collecting candy to get it off the streets and out of local mouths

With two days left before the candy collection ends we have once again been overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity from area children. We ask that you help publicize one last time, the fact that we are collecting unwanted Halloween Candy (and by today, 6 days after Halloween I’m sure everyone is wondering whether they can continue eating all that left over sweet stuff, and what the impact on their health is going to be). We have the answer. Give it to our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. We understand that that the initial shipment overseas is going to a US military base in Italy, where soldiers’ wives will be making Christmas stockings for our troops, and stuffing them with our shipment. We have created a blogsite for the soldiers to post their pictures of the distribution of the candy.

The truck and trailer, donated by National Freight Industries (NFI) will be pulling out at 12 Noon on Thursday, November 8th. We have had significant interest from local media, and want to thank Fox-TV, 6ABC and the Courier Post for helping cover the story and garner the interest needed. Other thank yous go to Mario Russo of RFC Containers, Inc. Jesse, from the Marlton Radio Shack who donated the mp3 player, Chuck from Sign-a-Rama who donated the sign for our lawn, Kyle, from Keystone Soldiers who will be taking care of the shipping are among the many who we need to thank.

But the biggest thanks goes to the children, who have given up something that was THEIRS for the benefit of many. There has been an outpouring of generosity from the schools. The Woodcrest School in Cherry Hill arrived with 3 SUV’s full with about 500 lbs of candy last night. The Kingston School and the Avon School, to name but a few of the many have really come through.

We have received candy from as far away as Houston Texas.

We would hope that on a day where we predict voter turn-out will be at an all-time apathetic low, you could find a better story to cover. We know tomorrow will be all-day about the Callahan funeral, so why not get the ball rolling today, so that tomorrow we can be thanking you for the last-ditch effort to fill the trailer to the roof.

Last year, we collected and distributed about 1500 pounds of candy, and expect it to be even bigger this year. There are 200 offices nationwide, and three other offices in the Delaware Valley: Dr. Gary Budman in Paulsboro, NJ, Dr. Sander White in Broomall, PA, and Dr. Buzz Waterston in Media, PA. “It was a tremendous project last year, that’s gotten even bigger this year. We hope to see this become a Halloween tradition in dental offices throughout the US in future years. Of course, more importantly, we hope that we can see an end to war, and the need to do this, but until then, I hope to help spearhead the addition of more offices next year. I think the leap from 2 offices last year to 200 this year is a great start,” says Dr. Markus .

Last year, logistics became an obstacle: how to get all that candy out to the troops. But with the help of a great group of local volunteers it all became possible. This year, one of our patients undertook the task of trucking the candy where it had to go. “We truly couldn’t do this without the help of NFI Industries, (National Freight) which is also going to be collecting candy in their local offices,” said Markus.

The trailer will then go to an organization named Keystone Soldiers (www.keystonesoldiers.com) which is a 100% volunteer non-profit organization. Through their organization and website you can show your support by becoming a volunteer, writing letters and cards to our troops or sending a care package. You may also make a donation to help with postage or you can sponsor a special care package to one of our troops.

This year, we have also gotten a local restaurant, BokBok Fresh, on White Horse Pike in Barrington to provide a buy one, get one free offer for kids’ meals. Dr. Markus will be raffling off an iPod. For every pound of candy that kids bring in, they will get a raffle ticket. One lucky winner will be drawn at 7PM on Wednesday November 7th, when candy collection ends. The hours for candy collection are:

Tuesday Nov 6 from 8:30-4

Wednesday, Nov 7 from 8:30 – 7

There is also an added bonus for parents: When you come in, we will give you a gift certificate that can be worth over $300 for treatment in our office in gratitude. The big story though, is the smiles on the kids faces that we see when they know that something they worked on is going for the better good. For more information visit http://www.cent4dent.com/html/candytroops.html

“Ditch the candy, that’s what we’re saying. Visiting your dentist twice a year and brushing daily are great preventative measures, but doing away with excess sweets altogether would really give your teeth a healthy boost,” says Dr. Steve Markus from Centre for Dentistry at Haddon. “Kids can still have all of the fun of trick-or-treating, and now their awareness of the joy of giving can develop”

Global sugar consumption for kids increases by about 2% annually (and currently sits at 150 million tons per year), which means that parents need to be sure their kids teeth are being cared for more than ever. Candy, as well as hurting children’s teeth, can lead to hyperactivity and weight gain. In some cases, the wrong types of candy can also lead to broken and damaged braces. Recent news articles have shown that there is an epidemic of decay in young children under 5.

We will welcome press inquiries and interviews. It would be great if this could be the lead story, once again, on the morning news on TV on Thursday, Nov. 1st as it was last year. We couldn’t have done all this good work without the help of the TV stations that covered it from beginning to end.