Problem: Article: People who smoke or chew tobacco are four times more likely to develop gum disease. Continued tobacco use can also make treatment less effective. Make an effort to quit smoking or quit chewing tobacco. . Clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth can cause receding gums. If you grind your teeth at night, a doctor can recommend a device to wear to stop this. Reducing stress or meditating may help, although this has not been thoroughly studied. Hypnosis therapy may be effective for some people. Constant headaches in the morning that continue throughout the day, earaches, and facial muscle soreness are all signs that you might grind your teeth in your sleep. Certain medications increase the chance of unhealthy gums. These include steroids, oral contraceptives, some anti-epilepsy drugs, some cancer therapies, drugs used after organ transplant, and some drugs used to treat migraines or blood pressure. Bring up your concerns with your doctor. Depending on your condition and the medications available, he may recommend a treatment that's less harmful on your gums. . Diabetes can lead to higher glucose levels in your saliva, which encourages bacterial growth on gums slowing blood flow to the gums. If you are diabetic, keep your blood sugar levels under control to reduce this risk. . Eating disorders can cause poor nutrition, which can lead to bleeding, vulnerable gums and erodes the tooth surface leading to substance loss. Vomiting can cause additional damage due to stomach acid. Seek help from medical professionals, mental health experts, and emotionally supportive friends. . Any piercing in the mouth, including the lips, can cause infection. To avoid gum recession and more serious, life-threatening issues, take the following precautions: Have a professional perform the piercing, and ask about their sterilization practices first. Talk to a doctor first if you are pregnant, have allergies, diabetes, a skin disorder, or heart disease. For several days after piercing: Keep swelling down with cold and sleep with your head slightly elevated. Avoid alcohol, tobacco, and spicy food. Rinse with (non-alcohol) antibacterial mouthwash after each meal. All the time: Wash your hands before handling the piercing. Try to avoid touching the piercings to teeth and gums. Visit a doctor immediately if you have pain, swelling, or red streaks. If you throw up frequently for any reason, stomach acid can wear away at your teeth. After vomiting, rinse with a mixture of baking soda and water to neutralize the acid. Do not brush your teeth immediately after vomiting. If you wear dentures and feel them becoming too loose or too tight, visit a dentist. This could be causing your receding gums, or the change in your teeth could cause the change in fit. Either way, a dentist can alter them to fit more comfortably, and identify the cause.
Summary: Reduce tobacco use. Stop grinding your teeth Talk to your doctor about medications that may cause gum problems. Keep diabetes under control Overcome eating disorders Take care of mouth piercings Rinse with baking soda after throwing up. Get your dentures refitted.

Problem: Article: Props are important, but it's the characters that can truly make a haunted house feel terrifying. There are a number of ways that your friends can step out and scare your guests. Here are a few things they can do: After a bout of silence, a spooky ghost can jump out and scare your guests. Try having the ghost pop out of a closet. Have a volunteer grip guests' shoulders. Have them do this slowly so the guest thinks it's just another guest at first. Bring your guests in a dark room. Have your volunteer turn on a flashlight under his face and laugh maniacally. Have one of your volunteers get in line behind a pack of guests, and wait for them to slowly realize that he is there. Have one of your guests dress up like a famous horror film character, such as Jason, or Freddy. Gore is often overdone, but it can be effective if used properly. For example, place a "victim" who is playing dead next to a pool of blood. Or, cover a "victim" with makeup that makes them look as if they have a horrible infection. You can also put a bloody brain out on a table or near a "victim." If you want your haunted house to be a bit less terrifying and more fun for your guests, especially younger ones, you can arrange to have a different spooky activity in different rooms. Some activities to try are: Have a tub of cold water with fake snakes slithering in them. Place some coins on the bottom. Tell your guests they can't move on until they reach down and find a coin. Instead of bobbing for apples, carve apples to look like skulls and play bobbing for skulls! Peel the skin off a bunch of grapes and put them in a bowl. Cover the bowl and tell your guests to put their hands inside and tell you what they feel. Correct answer: eyeballs! Have your guests open a room where there is nothing but a full length mirror covered in cobwebs. Give them a few seconds to stare at the mirror. Then, have a goblin or ghost jump out at them from behind them or the mirror. Jump scares are very effective when it comes to getting people to scream during a haunted house visit. Have a room with a closed coffin in the center. Have a few activities or surprises to keep the guests busy in the room. Then, right before they leave the room, have a "skeleton" jump out of the casket. You can also have characters jump out during certain sections of the house as the visitors walk through. If your guests will be older, have an "actor" chase them with a chainsaw that no longer has a chain. Your guests will get used to them as they walk through. Have your friends blend in with the dummies and then jump out at your guests when they least expect it. This will work especially well at the entrance or exit of the house. You can make a dummy by stuffing clothes with newspaper, and putting a mask over a balloon.
Summary: Scare your guests with your volunteers. Add some gore. Have spooky activities for your guests. Try the mirror trick. Play up the jump scares. Set up a few fake dummies throughout the haunted house.

Problem: Article: Resealable plastic bags make excellent piping bags because the frosting or sauce won't come out from anywhere but the point that you want it to. Select a plastic bag based on the amount of frosting or sauce that you need to apply to the top of your dish. Most packages list the interior volume of the plastic bag. This can make it easy to determine whether a bag is big enough for the recipe. A thicker resealable bag, like a freezer bag, is a good choice if you have a thicker frosting that will require a lot pressure to be applied to the bag. You can use a non-sealable plastic bag if that's all you have available, but you'll need to twist it at the top once you fill it to close it. These bags also tend to explode when you squeeze them, so they're not great for thicker frostings. Once you've added your frosting or sauce, seal your bag by running your fingers on the opposite sides of the seal and pressing it together. If you have a plastic bag with a zipper, all you need to do is slide it to the other end of the bag. Push the frosting, icing, or sauce down towards the corner that you're going to cut. You can push the air out before sealing it if you want. It'll make it easier to dispense the icing or sauce but it will also come out quicker.
Summary:
Get a resealable plastic bag and a pair of scissors. Seal the bag at the top to close it.