Author: Ernest Rouse

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

Teeth are one of the most important factors in making a first impression with someone. Say what you want, disagree with me, call me shallow… whatever. You know I am right, because you yourself have fallen into the trap of analyzing the apparent beauty or ugliness of someone’s teeth that you are just meeting for the first time. It is okay, it’s only natural. However, if you’re like me, then you are a bit insecure about your appearance and want to make sure your teeth are nice looking. Many people neglect their teeth in their youth and end up regretting this over time when they realize the importance of oral hygiene. If you fall into this category, then I have some good news for you. Not only has our modern medicine made it relatively easy to go to the dentist and have teeth repairs made, there are also a plethora of ways to whiten your teeth at home. 

Now, I know what you are thinking. Whitening strips, mouthwash, and other whitening treatments are all so expensive! And yes, you would be right in thinking this. Oftentimes companies charge a pretty penny for products that may or may not whiten your teeth very effectively. What is even more pathetic is that most of these products only contain one or two ingredients that actually do any of the whitening. It should be a crime to market these products how they are marketed and to claim the effectiveness of whitening someone’s teeth with little proof to show for it. It makes me genuinely sad to see people fall for this trick and waste money trying to whiten their teeth with these overpriced products. Luckily for you, you found this article where I will tell you about different ways in which you can whiten your teeth at home, and on a budget!

The first tip I have for you to whiten your teeth at home is to use hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is great because it not only whitens your teeth, but it also is insanely cheap to buy at the store. In fact, you might even have some laying around the house or in a medicine cabinet somewhere right now! I use hydrogen peroxide to whiten my teeth and I can speak to its effectiveness. If you look at certain brands of toothpaste or mouthwash, you will see hydrogen peroxide as one of the active ingredients used to remove surface stains on your teeth. Hydrogen peroxide also kills bacteria in your mouth that can lead to plaque buildup, bad breath, and tooth decay. Honestly, it is a win-win situation all around. 

Another at home method is called oil pulling, which has been around for centuries. Oil pulling involves taking some kind of oil, like coconut or sunflower oil, and swishing it around in your mouth for 10-20 minutes. I do not believe that this has any scientific research done to back up its claimed whitening effect, but there are many people who stand by oil pulling as an effective means of whitening their teeth. 

Another tip I have for you is to brush your teeth regularly. And I mean regularly! That means two times a day for two minutes. I often see people complain about their teeth, but then neglect brushing or taking care of them. What a silly thing to complain about. If you want to take care of your teeth, then you need to brush them regularly. 

If you have ever had the experience of these massive random teeth growing in the back of your mouth, going to the dentist, and being told they need to be removed, then you are merely one of millions of people who have had the joy of getting their wisdom teeth removed. Honestly, no one ever tells you what the heck wisdom teeth are or why they are so dead set on growing in the back of your mouth and screwing everything up. For me personally, I had to get my wisdom teeth removed just over a month ago. It was a pretty grueling experience and not something I would recommend doing on the weekend for fun. However, medical advancements in our modern world have made life so much easier, and it is truly incredible what we are able to do with modern medicine. Even in the world of dentistry, things are now easier and convenient compared to any other time in history. What a time to be alive! It is weird to think that things will continue to get better with time, and we will live to see even greater advancements in the world of dentistry and medicine.

So after I got my wisdom teeth taken out, I was curious as to why they actually are even a thing. Wisdom teeth are weird because it seems that not everyone has them, but if you do have them, you almost certainly get them removed at some point. This started to beg the question in my head, “what did people do with wisdom teeth before modern medicine?”. Because I’m sure it would not be nearly the same experience to have your wisdom teeth pulled 200 years ago as it is today. Did people just live with painful, unnecessary, misshapen teeth in the back of their mouths for centuries? I was genuinely curious, so I decided to do a little research of my own to figure out the truth behind wisdom teeth. This is what I found: 

First of all, I thought it was important to tell you that these teeth are called wisdom teeth because they are the last adult teeth to grow into your mouth; hence, the teeth that will grow when you are allegedly the wisest. Wisdom teeth also generally have the same function as molars. More specifically, they are flat teeth used for crushing strong objects, unlike our pointy teeth that are used for stabbing and tearing or something like that. It is said that wisdom teeth were once essential for people, since there was not a lot of cooking or utensil-using in the early days of humanity. I guess it makes sense that an extra set of molars are necessary for eating a diet of wild nuts and seeds. But in our day and age we simply don’t need them.

To answer my question about how people in history could deal with wisdom teeth if they are such a pain for us, I continued my research rabbit hole. What I found is that people tended to have larger jaws the further back in history you go. For whatever evolutionary reason, our jaws have gotten smaller with time and thus cannot always afford the space necessary to house those massive wisdom teeth in back. Hope this is interesting to you, go to the dentist to check out your own wisdom teeth!

We all love white teeth. Let’s be honest, if you meet someone new for the first time, one of the first things you notice about them is their teeth. Teeth are just one of those things that stick out in someone, and it is only natural to look at somebody’s teeth. The simple fact is that, since we speak from our mouths, our teeth will always be attached to what we are saying. That is why it is so important to make sure your teeth are not stained and staying in good condition. Now for me, I personally struggle with keeping my teeth looking nice and white all the time, because there are certain things that one can do to stain their teeth, and I happen to enjoy doing those things! One of the big ones for me is coffee.

I started drinking coffee around the time I started college. At first, it was something I only did in social gatherings at the cafe and stuff like that. I may order a drink here or there with my friends in order to fit in with the crowd, or order some coffee on a really tired and dreary morning in the winter time. Soon though, I began to really enjoy drinking coffee just for the taste and for the energy. I quickly found myself turning into a full time coffee drinker! I ended up buying a keurig and spending a lot more money on coffee than I ever would have thought. The nice thing about a keurig is that it is quick, easy, and perfect to use for just one person. They also have so many varieties of k cups that one can use to find the perfect coffee for every day. While this can get very expensive, I noticed the biggest problem arising from my coffee drinking habit was my teeth were becoming more and more stained. This was a real problem for me, as I get insecure about the whiteness of my teeth and very much value my oral hygiene. 

As most people are aware, drinking coffee often can stain your teeth and cause a lot of your shiny whiteness to diminish. There are additionally a lot of other foods and beverages that can stain your teeth too if you are not careful. One of these is tea. Tea is said to be even worse for your teeth than coffee, especially regular black tea. Surprisingly, white or green tea can also stain your teeth and wear down your enamel. This is all around a bad time for your teeth and your mouth in general. Certain sauces, like tomato, curry, or some other red sauce can stain your teeth too. This makes me really sad to hear, because I have a deep love connection with spaghetti. A lot of sugary drinks can stain your teeth as well. Most people are aware that soft drinks will stain your teeth, but people don’t always know that sports drinks like Gatorade or Powerade will stain your teeth as well!

I hope this was helpful to you in any way possible. Remember that it is important to brush your teeth for two minutes twice a day to avoid tooth decay and plaque buildup. It is also imperative to go to the dentist at least once a year to get a check up on your teeth!