Sponsored Post: Celebrate National Grilled Cheese Month at D&R Depot!
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Sponsored Post: What's in your mouth?
When I was in dental school, one of our requirements was to fill a certain number of cavities with pure gold. Gold works well in our mouths but very few dentists use gold for fillings anymore. In dental school and after, we placed many silver amalgam fillings in the teeth of our patients. Eventually we would polish them up and marvel at how nice they looked. But, times have changed. Many people these days don’t have any fillings at all. But as far as filling materials go, they do get better and better. Someday, maybe before we completely rid our mouths of tooth decay, we will discover that perfect filling material. What are we using now? Basically, silver amalgam, composite resin and sometimes porcelain.
We have been using silver amalgam for 150 years and it is very hard to deny how well it has worked. Amalgam is a mixture of metals. Amalgam fillings are about half silver and half mercury with maybe some tin and copper thrown in. Once mixed, those metals come together to form another substance. We place it in the tooth and it eventually hardens. There may be a very low level release of mercury vapor over time but the overwhelming majority of evidence is that it does little or no harm. Amalgam is easily placed, extremely hard, and no material, to date, will last as long especially if they are small fillings. Some disadvantages besides the mercury content are that amalgam fillings can turn black and become very unattractive. They can also absorb moisture and expand to the point where they can crack teeth. Eventually, all fillings will break down and leak, causing decay around the filling.
Many dentists use predominantly the tooth‐colored filling material called composite. This is a particle‐filled resin or plastic material that hardens when exposed to a certain wavelength of light. Composites are bonded to teeth which makes them very strong. And there are many kinds of composites. Some are harder, some are prettier, some are smoother. Unlike amalgam, composites are more difficult or tricky to place, but they have many advantages. Of course they are tooth‐colored. And because they are bonded to the tooth, a dentist takes less tooth structure away, thus preserving more healthy tooth. Also when bonding in composite, larger fillings can be placed without pins or posts that have the possibility of hurting the tooth. In general, resin‐bonded composites will help a tooth stay together as opposed to causing it to break apart. Historically though, composites do wear faster than amalgam, and again, they can be tricky to place.
Porcelain is another option. These fillings are made outside of the mouth and then bonded into the tooth. Porcelain is very pretty, very hard and can preserve tooth structure. But it is usually the most time consuming and expensive option. We might see more porcelain restorations in the future as more dental offices become equipped to make them “in‐house”. Of course things keep changing.
So, what’s in your mouth? Dr. Russell Marchese Jr. -- 585-343-2711. Like us on Facebook for more information.
Sponsored Post: Open House - 236 State Street, Batavia!
Solid and nicely kept City home in central location and ready to move in! This home has been upgraded and freshly painted throughout, with more room than it appears from the road! Good size rooms and a walk-up, finished attic that adds a whole lot more room for storage or play! Large back enclosed porch for nice nights and a place to kick off your shoes! Come check this one out, nothing to do but move in and make it your own!! NOW $92,000. Call Lynn Bezon today!
Sponsored Post: Dan's Tire - Unbeatable Tire Sale!
Dan’s Tire & Auto is making your tire buying experience plain and simple. We won’t be undersold. We will BEAT anybody’s price on comparable tires, plain and simple.
- No Charge to Mount
- No Charge to Balance
- No Charge for Valve Stems, excludes TPMS
- No Charge to Reset Your Tire Pressure Monitoring System
- No Charge 4-WHEEL ALIGNMENT (Not Alignment Check)
- FREE Rotations for Life of the Tires
We want your tire business, plain and simple. After 35 years there’s one thing we’ve learned, keep it plain and simple and everybody wins. Stop in, call or e-mail to get a quote and set up your appointment.
Dan’s Tire & Auto Service Center, 48 Batavia City Centre, Batavia, NY 14020 • (585) 343-7210. Saturday hours are available by appointment only.
Visit us online at: www.danstire.com or e-mail: dan@danstire.com
Must mention posting on the The Batavian at time of service. Offer applies to four new tire purchase. For aspect ratios below 50 and rim diameters 19” and higher additional mounting and balancing charges apply. Alignment includes toe-in adjustments only. Most vehicles. Cannot be combined with any other promotional offers, discounts or coupons.
Sponsored Post: Think Spring! Visit the Home Show on Friday, March 27th - Sunday, March 29.
It’s been a long cold winter and now it’s time to “think spring.” And there’s no way better way to beat those long winter blues than by attending the second annual Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Home Show. The Home Show will be held at Falleti Ice Arena in Batavia Friday through Sunday, March 27-29.
Here’s your chance to talk face to face with more than 60 area businesses attending this year’s Home Show for help with your home ideas and projects. And while you’re there, make sure you register for a chance to win a $500 gift certificate from the Home Show vendor business of your choice. The winner will be drawn at the conclusion of the Home Show and you do not need to be present to win.
The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Home Show will be open Friday, March 27 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, March 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, March 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. And if you’re hungry, the concessions are being run by Alex’s Place, so you know the food will be excellent!
Admission is only $3 per person and children 12 and under are free when accompanied by an adult. Parking is free at the Falleti Ice Arena. Coupons good for $1 off all admissions are available at the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce office, 210 E. Main St., Batavia, or at any of the participating businesses. For a complete list of participating businesses go to www.geneseeny.com/homeshow. For more information, call the Chamber office at 343-7440.
The latest Flip Ad Contest winner
We ran a Flip Ad contest these past two days.
The secret code hidden under a Flip Ad was "Vincent Maney."
The winner is Douglas Gaus, of Batavia, who was the ninth person to correctly e-mail the answer to us.
Douglas wins $25.
Sponsored Post: 42 Vernon Avenue is a must see! Call Lynn Bezon at Reliant today!
Super solid and charming home on a great street! This 3 bedroom, 2 full bath home has a lot to offer especially for the family that likes to decorate and entertain! The house has a great floor plan and very spacious room sizes. It features great woodwork throughout, central air and loads of storage! There is a front enclosed sun porch, perfect for nice evenings and a professionally landscaped yard that comes with blueprints! The home has been well taken care of, is nicely decorated and ready to move in! Give us a call today or visit us online.
Sponsored Post: Batavia Soccer Club sign-ups this Saturday!
Click here to register online.
'Roy Mason' Flip Ad contest winner
We ran a Flip Ad contest yesterday, but I haven't had time until now to count up the entries and find the 18th correct answer to our secret code.
The code this time was "Roy Mason" (a local artist of some reknown).
The winner was Jeffrey Gillard, of Batavia.
We'll send Jeff a check for $25.
Look for another random Flip Ad contest at some time next week.
Remember to patronize the businesses that sponsor The Batavian.
Six years in and The Batavian is going strong
Six years ago, there were critics who gave us six months.
I heard it in Batavia and read it from pundits online.
When Billie and I assumed ownership of The Batavian, the site had three sponsors and hadn't yet cracked 2,400 visitors in a day. There were naysayers who thought we were foolish to sell our home in Pittsford and rent a tiny duplex on Maple Street and pretend we could be local online news publishers in Batavia.
That was March 1, 2009.
Today, thanks to the support of our readers, we have more than 140 sponsors and employ three people (including our editor for the Wyoming County Free Press).
Last week, we had 12,000 visitors to The Batavian every day. That's normal now, and on big news days we're well over 15,000 visitors and sometimes as high as 20,000.
In a county with a population of only 57,000 people, we get 120,000 visitors to the site per month, who visit the site 550,000 times per month. (Source for these numbers is our Google Analytics account, which tells us nearly 60 percent of that traffic comes from within Genesee County, with the bulk of the rest coming from the rest of Western New York (likely local residents checking us out while at work.)
Those might seem like staggering numbers, or perhaps not. There are sites online where those traffic numbers would be considered abysmal, so some context is needed.
We get context by comparing our traffic with the local news organization we consider our competitor, the Batavia Daily News.
The chart above comes from a site called Quantcast, which measures the traffic of both TheBatavian.com and TheDailyNewsOnline.com.
The top line is The Batavian, which covers only one county, and the bottom line is the Batavia Daily News, which counts as its market area three counties (Genesee, Wyoming and Orleans).
Billie and I are really proud of how people in Genesee County have embraced The Batavian as the go-to local news source. The spikes in the chart above especially illustrated how important we are to local readers when there is breaking news.
Quantcast says in the past 30 days, The Batavian has had 127,000 unique visitors (kind of like counting individual computers that visit the site) compared to 99,000 for the Batavia Daily News. We've had 663,081 visits (counts people visiting multiple times) compared to 422,000 for the Batavia Daily News.
Marketers use a term called Defined Market Area to measure audience for media companies, and Genesee County is divided between Buffalo and Rochester. Our traffic in the Buffalo DMA was 64,566 people and for Rochester, 23,785. For the Batavia Daily News, the numbers are 37,694 and 18,702.
While it's gratifying to compare ourselves to our competition and see we're on top, that's not the real point here. As I go around town, I get asked all the time, "How's The Batavian doing?" This is how we're doing.
More than our raw traffic numbers, those comparisons speak volumes about how The Batavian has been accepted and embraced by Genesee County residents.
It also puts our success in context on a larger stage. There are, at best, only a handful of online-only news sites in the United States that have achieved our level of success in readership and local business support. I don't even know of a newspaper in a comparable market that matches The Batavian's online success with its Web site.
Publications that cover media are full of pundits who pontificate on the failure of local news media and are self-assured that the Internet destroys the audience for local news. The numbers for The Batavian demonstrate, I think, how wrong those proclamations are. People do want local news, and if they get it in a style and format they like, they will flock to it.
Billie and I are grateful for your support. We're transplants from Southern California who have come to love Western New York and enjoy our life in Batavia. We're excited about our community's future and prospects for growth and intend to do all we can to be a supporter of an ever more vibrant and successful community.
Of course, we wouldn't be in business without the support of our sponsors, but there again, we need to thank our readers. You all have been most generous in supporting our sponsors. We continually get rave reviews from sponsors who are pleased with the results they get from their ads on The Batavian. Please continue to support the local and regional businesses who so graciously support The Batavian.
On the sponsorship front, we've promoted Lucie Ann Griffis to an expanded sales territory to include Genesee County, so if you have a local business and are ready to experience a great way to market your business, call Lucie at our office, (585) 250-4118.
Sponsored Post: Let's talk about children's dental health this month!
Welcome to one of the harshest Februarys that we have ever had. But instead of talking about the weather, let's talk about Children's Dental Health Month. This month is special for me because I spend two different Fridays either treating kids at the U.B. Dental School or visiting classrooms in Batavia preaching good oral health habits.
Obviously, the most important habit a child can have is brushing well enough or for long enough. That's for all of us. Parents are the best "quality control" people for how well their kids are cleaning. In addition, parents of younger children should be helping them brush. A parent can clean more in 20 seconds than some children can clean in 20 minutes.
What a child (or adult) eats might not be as important as how it is eaten. We talk about constantly coating our teeth with sugary things and how harmful it can be to our teeth. Soda pop, sports drinks, fruit juice (especially in baby bottles), coffee with sugar can be the most harmful. "Nursing" these drinks or sipping them for long periods of time is when it hurts the most. I tell my patients that if they have to have a drink like those to "drink it right down" and be done with it. If one has to sip something, make it water--hot or cold. Water is so good for us anyway. Lollipops or any candy that stays in our mouth for long will cause cavities as well. Eat it and be done with it. Fruits and veggies are the most healthy snack substitutes.
Of course, the best "quality control" person for your child or for anyone is your dentist or hygienist. If your child has teeth then they should probably see a dentist. We urge parents of young children to bring their young kids with them at cleaning appointments if not just to get used to coming in but also for a quick usually cost free check up. Your dentist might feel the same.
So, kids (and adults!) eat carefully, clean well, and visit your dentist enough. Now, enjoy what's left of our Winter for Spring will come, eventually! Dr. Russell Marchese Jr. -- 585-343-2711. Like us on Facebook for more information.
