By Dr. Paul McConnell, National Dental Director, UnitedHealthcare Dental located in Cypress

Oral health is more than just a bright smile, it’s an important part of a child’s growth, development and overall well-being. Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease among kids in the U.S., affecting nearly half of children ages 2-19. About 1 in 10 children ages 2-5 experience untreated decay, a number that climbs to nearly 1 in 5 by ages 6-8.
Baby teeth play an important role in a child’s development, serving as the foundation for healthy permanent teeth and supporting speech and overall well-being. Moreover, emergency dental care causes children in the U.S. to miss approximately 34 million school hours annually. Good oral health habits and staying on top of dental checkups from an early age can help reduce the risk of developing cavities and other conditions that affect overall health.
Here are some tips for parents to help promote good childhood dental health:
Encourage healthy snacking and hydration. What children eat and drink plays a big role in their oral health. Sugary snacks and drinks feed bacteria that can erode enamel and lead to cavities. Limiting sugar and encouraging plenty of water helps rinse away food particles, dilute acids, and support healthy saliva flow. Adding nutrient‑rich foods like fruits, vegetables, cheese and yogurt provides calcium and vitamin D to help keep teeth and bones strong.
Make preventive dental care part of your routine. Regular preventive dental care may help to catch issues early on, helping reduce the risk of more serious — and costly — problems down the road. For kids, untreated cavities can result in poor nutrition and potentially stunt growth and development. Oral health can also be linked to health conditions like diabetes and heart disease, making it important to take advantage of preventive services from a young age. Many dental plans cover preventive services such as exams, cleanings, x-rays and sealants. Call the number on the back of your dental insurance card to find out what your specific plan covers. 
A child’s first dental visit should be scheduled after their first tooth appears and no later than their first birthday. After that, kids should see the dentist every six months.
Promote a positive dental experience. Dental fear and anxiety is quite common — one third of young kids around the world experience it. Dental visits may include the use of instruments or services that can seem scary. Regular visits to the dentist may help kids get more comfortable and help make the experience more familiar. Parents can help ease nerves by explaining what to expect, answering questions or using books or videos to help kids feel prepared and confident.
Provide guidance for good dental hygiene. While parents may want to supervise brushing until at least age 8 to ensure proper technique, education around oral health can begin much earlier. Encourage brushing twice daily with an ADA-approved toothpaste. Introduce flossing when two teeth touch. This helps teach children that cleaning between teeth is just as important as brushing. Parents can make dental care fun by letting kids choose toothbrushes in their favorite colors, turning brushing time into a family activity, singing songs or setting timers to help them stay engaged.
Replace toothbrushes regularly. Change toothbrushes every three to four months, or sooner if bristles are frayed. During cold and flu season, replace toothbrushes after being sick to avoid reintroducing germs to the body.
Encouraging healthy dental habits and staying consistent with preventive care from a young age may help children grow up with strong smiles, fewer health complications and the confidence that comes with a lifetime of good oral health.

New Report Measures the Impact Of Lawsuit Abuse
Adds To The Already High Cost Of Living In California

By Victor Gomez, Executive Director, Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse
It seems the buzzword captivating Americans these days is “affordability”. Yet everywhere you go, prices still seem to be increasing here in California. We’re all seeking relief from the high costs of living, with no end in sight. This trend is already being compounded by a hidden cost driver known as the “tort tax”, which this year totals $2,567 for each Californian. This number represents the hidden tax and the extra burden every Californian pays per year to compensate for California’s overly litigious climate. Along with high costs, lawsuit abuse also leads to 850,915 jobs lost throughout the state, which notably already has the highest tax rates and unemployment rates in the nation.
Every day, thousands of small business owners face lawsuits, all based on technical violations, where no one was really harmed. We might not think much of it, but we should.
Consider the case of one restaurant owner: someone who survived the economic hardships of the pandemic and California’s stagnant economy, only to face an unwarranted Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit because the dining room table in her restaurant was 1/16 of an inch too low. It cost this restaurant owner $11,000 to settle this case, showing just how real and costly lawsuit abuse can be for small business owners.
The question is, who really pays for this? The answer is simple—we all do.
The newly released Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse Report titled “The Economic Benefits of Tort Reform,” compiled by the Perryman Group, an economic consulting firm, details the results of how lawsuit abuse impacts every person in California through higher costs, lost jobs, and less economic activity.
The report highlights how an overly aggressive litigious environment is draining California’s economy, showcased by a significant slowdown in growth and more and more lost jobs. An inadequately balanced civil justice system can be counterproductive, driving up the costs and risks of doing business, disincentivizing innovations, and increasing everyday costs.
The total current impact of excessive tort costs on California’s economy includes losses of $101.2 billion in gross product each year, according to the report. Californians lose more than $64.5 billion a year in direct costs related to the production of goods and services.
Business activity generates tax revenue, and the business activity losses due to excessive tort costs reduce receipts to the federal, state, and local governments. California’s state government revenue is losing an excess of $5.3 billion annually, and local government revenue is down $4.4 billion.
Enacting tort reforms will enhance product innovation, increase productivity, and lower overall costs for California citizens. These reforms will also increase the efficiency of the economy, strengthen the competitiveness of the state’s businesses, and improve the climate for economic development, helping states win the competition for desirable corporate locations and expansions.
Unfortunately for all Californians, Governor Gavin Newsom and the legislature continue to turn a blind eye to reforming the civil justice system, even if it means helping small business owners avoid being targets of shakedown Americans With Disabilities Act lawsuits.
Attempts to reform the abuse of the Americans with Disabilities Act have gone on for more than 25 years. California small business owners had a chance last year to enact productive reform through Senate Bill SB 84, a bipartisan bill authored by Senator Roger Niello, but the Assembly Judiciary Committee refused to assign the bill a hearing date. In doing so, lawmakers effectively blocked meaningful reform, an act that is anti-democratic and directly undermines economic growth. Even liberal state Senators like Senator Ben Allen said, “‘let’s fix this problem,” during the Senate hearing covering SB 84. The legislation would give businesses 120 days to fix the problem or face consequences. SB 84 has a chance to move forward in 2026, giving lawmakers an opportunity to finally deliver balanced, meaningful reform.
Reforming California’s overly litigious system would help give Californians relief from unnecessary costs. Imagine what you could do with a little extra money in your pocket each year. Wouldn’t you like to have an extra $2,567 to spend this year on the things you want?

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is pursuing a first degree murder case against a former Ontario-based businessman, more than 29 years after his alleged killing of one of his employees when that employee sought to blackmail him over labor law violations that were taking place at the noodle plant where the alleged murderer was the operations manager.
Woravit Mektrakarn, who has been charged with murder in what is believed to have been the November 23, 1996 death of Luis Osvaldo Diego Garcia, has been the primary suspect in Garcia’s disappearance from the outset. He was arrested two days after Garcia was last seen, but released shortly thereafter when prosecutors felt there was insufficient evidence available at that time to bring him to trial. In short order, Mektrakarn left the United States, fleeing it was believed to either Thailand, the land of his birth, or Cambodia or Burma. It was believed and later established that he was living under a falsified identity between Burma and Cambodia and had been able to transit between those two countries and Thailand largely on the strength of his personal wealth and the social standing of his family. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. State Department, the International Liaison Office of the FBI and Interpol for a quarter of a century conducted a manhunt for Mektrakarn unsuccessfully. Continue reading →

Two of San Bernardino County’s leading politicians recently suffered the loss of family members.
Bob Ulloa, the husband of Chino Mayor Eunice Ulloa has died at the age of 87.
Stacey Schoole, the daughter of Yuca Valley Councilman Jim Schooler last month stepped into eternity at the age of 46.

In the days just ahead of a jury in a federal civil case originating out of San Bernardino County awarding a man crippled by the aggressive response of a sheriff’s deputy $27 million, the sheriff’s department elected to roll the dice by escalating the intensity of its operations in clearing the homeless out of the county.
While a fair number of county employees have expressed concerns that the heavy-handed, indeed ruthless and sometimes oppressively violent methods applied by the sheriff’s department are increasingly likely to result in dire or fatal consequences, those at the middle and command levels of the department are intent on resolving the homeless issue to the satisfaction of an increasingly callous public frustrated with the growing presence of the homeless population and the county’s political leadership, who measure progress on the issue in the reduction of its visibility.
Most of those involved are confident the indigent being encouraged to leave do not have the wherewithal to bring federal suits that might possibly cost the county any money.
The three highest ranking members of the county who are detailed to managing the county’s homeless crisis, Department of Behavioral Health Director Georgina Yoshioka and her assistants Jennifer Alsina and Marina Espinosa are said to be personally disturbed, in one case acutely emotionally to the point of tears, by the way in which the sheriff’s department employs brutality and violence against the county’s homeless population, most notably males between the approximate ages of 17 to 55, but are unwilling to offer resistance to what is occurring out of the belief that in doing so they would incur the wrath of the board of supervisors, Assistant Executive Officer Diane Rundles, Deputy Executive officer Victor Tordesillas, risking their employment status with the county.
Official homeless figures in San Bernardino County have varied over the last decade and a half. At the behest of the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, local governments carry out what is referred to as a point in time count of the homeless living within their jurisdictions, traditionally, with some fluctuation, on a single day during the final two weeks of January. Continue reading →