Dog Breath

Have you been putting off that talk with Fido? You know, the delicate one about b-a-d breath? Well, Waltham, a Vernon-based pet care company, now claims you can postpone that chat permanently. The firm has developed a new dog biscuit called Pedigree Dentabone, which it says cleans a dog’s teeth and eliminates bad breath. The company, however, doesn’t have a comparable biscuit for humans.

Take Another Breath

But wait, there’s more on the breath front. At Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, doctors have developed a breath test that is 95% effective in diagnosing a peptic ulcer. The test, which evaluates a single breath, identifies the bacterium that causes peptic ulcers--a condition characterized by painful sores in the stomach lining or part of the small intestine. Baylor, however, doesn’t have a comparable test for dogs.

Stitch in Time

Much to the chagrin of masochists, getting stitches may soon go the way of the slow-speed dental drill. Instead of getting “stitched up,” patients may be getting “glued up” with a new tissue adhesive called Dermabond. The adhesive, whose application is relatively painless, could replace sutures in roughly one in three emergency room cases, according to researchers at the University of Ottawa. Unlike stitches, which must be cut off, the adhesive wears off in a week or two--a healing process that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “coming unglued.”

A Thin Line

It’s been said we all learn how to hate. Well, thank goodness author Susan Murphy came along and taught us how to laugh while we do it. The author of the “I Hate” book series gives us 225 reasons to loathe everything from the IRS to computers. Her many titles include: “I Hate Doctors,” “I Hate Men,” and the inevitable “I Hate People.” In her most recent work, “I Hate Thin People” (Crane Hill Publishers, 1997), Murphy outlines her animosity for the skinny. “Thin people have bony fingers. It’s like shaking hands with a salad fork.” Where’s the love?