Canepa Dentistry Jensen Beach

03/01/2026

Here's an epiphany Dr. Canepa had during his quality control review of plastic components in products: Do dishwasher pods contain plastic? Yes! The outer film of Dishwasher pods can contain plastic in the form of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA/PVOH), a synthetic polymer. Whether a product on the market these days is labeled "polymer", "acrylic", "silicone (YES! Silicone is a plastic and a bad one)", or another derived name, it is plastic. While dishwasher pod plastic is claimed to dissolve during the wash cycle, research suggests this plastic may not fully biodegrade, contributing to microplastic pollution. There are plastic-free dish detergent companies, we are currently trying:
https://www.mamasuds.com/products/automatic-dishwasher-powder?variant=13984988806
32 cents per pod
https://www.blueland.com/products/dishwasher-starter-set?Scent=Free+%26+Clear&Refill+Quantity=120+Tablets
45 cents per pod based on starter kit price with 120 pods
^ make sure to only buy refills next time, not the starter kit

100% plastic-free dishwasher detergent tablets paired with a reusable Forever Tin. Experience effective cleaning with sustainable refills from Blueland ...

12/09/2025

Contributing a unique topic today – the subject of sales calls we all get on our phones.

Whether it’s calls or text messages, these outreach efforts are extensive and I want to share a solution which may reduce and nearly eliminate such invasive sales calls in your life.

Habitually, when we get a solicitation call, we may tell the caller to take us off their list, or hang up without saying anything. If the message is in the form of a text, we may delete it and nothing more.

Did you know, in the United States, it is actually a requirement that any solicitor gives you the option to decline future contact efforts, and these requirements are somewhere with every contact attempt sent – even if discrete or not mentioned at all?

When you get a sales call, try actually answering it and listening. If there is a real person, state your refusal to receive future calls and to take you off their list, but don’t hang up – have the caller confirm you are removed. If an automated call from a computer voice, as most are, wait for all the speaking to stop, and at the end, the call will tell you what button to press to be removed from the call list. Press it, they won’t call again.

If the solicitation is a text on your phone, even if the message does not say it, you can respond with “STOP” and it will trigger the computer to automatically remove you from the messaging list. In addition to this, you may click the “report junk” button below the text, if offered.

If contact continues, the company is operating illegally and you can report the number to law enforcement – this ACTUALLY WORKS, and the companies which still contact you almost become nonexistent – exceptions being foreign companies if your identity has been breached at an unknown time, and even these have unsubscribe options.

I can’t emphasize this information enough. While it takes time up front to unsubscribe, you can near eliminate the amount of unwanted people contacting you by consistently opting out of the communication at the end whenever it happens.

Before I tried this strategy, I received several calls a day. It took a month of answering each and every call or text, however once done, the calls and texts went away entirely. It has been eight months and I have not had ONE solicitation call. I get a text every so often, however they are rare and I practice the same solution.

08/28/2025

A very interesting feature of antimicrobial mouthwashes are their abilities to reduce oral bacteria. Did you know, claims such as "kills 99.9% of bacteria" are technically true, however, they are logarithmic?! That means you can EVENTUALLY get to killing such a percentage of bacteria, however it takes time. In fact, when rinsing with any antimicrobial mouthwash, the first 30 second rinse doesn't kill that many microbes. It primarily breaks down the saliva and bacterial mucous layer that rests on your teeth, cheeks, gums, tongue, etcetera, typically insulating bacteria. Once the first rinse washes these layers away, the actual bacteria are exposed. Doing another 30 second rinse is when you kill most of the bacteria. This helpful tip from Dr. Canepa and your devoted team at Canepa Dentistry!

08/07/2025

Fluoride has become a complex subject. People fear fluoride may affect their intelligence or damage their health. This is untrue, and this explanation is meant to address the practical subject of fluoride in its entirety. There is “organic” fluoride, found in nature or made from only natural ingredients, and there is “synthetic” fluoride which is manufactured. The risk of problems from appropriate fluoride use of any sort are not just low, they are non-existent.

The relevant “organic” fluorides are stannous fluoride, or calcium fluoride. Stannous fluoride is superior to all fluorides keeping teeth cavity free, and is made from only natural components. The downside is stannous fluoride has tin and some worry about health effects from metal. Stannous fluoride can also stain teeth over time due to tin, and this is why it is less common. Interestingly, the tin component is also a reason stannous fluoride stops cavities so well, because metal is naturally antimicrobial. Calcium fluoride is the other “organic” fluoride, also made from natural ingredients, however it takes a long time to soak into a tooth, and thus far demonstrates inferior results stopping cavities. In some ways, it serves as a product appeasing fears and allowing users to “feel” as if they get the same impressive effect of fluoride.

The main “synthetic” fluorides are sodium fluoride and sodium monofluorophosphate. Sodium fluoride is the most common fluoride because it soaks into teeth the fastest, healing them the fastest. Sodium fluoride and sodium monofluorophosphate are basically made from combining fluoride with phosphate harvested while making fertilizer – which is concentrated minerals. In reality, phosphate is a mineral our teeth need to stay hard, and making “synthetic” fluoride from a mineral process makes sense, and also follows simple techniques: sodium fluoride is made by combining hydrofluoric acid with what is standard table salt. Hydrofluoric acid results from getting phosphate minerals out of rock. Hydrofluoric acid is abbreviated HF, table salt is abbreviated NaOH. The mixture is HF + NaOH, and the result is NaF + H2O, also known as sodium fluoride and water. The water is taken out, and sodium fluoride remains. Then we put it on our teeth and it fixes them, and we can swallow it and it will recirculate in our saliva, further healing teeth. Sodium fluoride can also strengthen our bones as a mineral. There is nothing else in that mixture, and as a result, there is nothing mysterious that can cause harm. Initial ingredients mixed to form new ingredients. There is no hydrofluoric acid or table salt going on your teeth or in your body. In fact, when you put sodium fluoride (NaF) back into water, it becomes sodium (Na+) and fluoride (F-).

In terms of the other “synthetic” fluoride, sodium monofluorophosphate, this is made by phosphate rock mixing with salt water to form sodium metaphosphate, which is then mixed with sodium fluoride, forming sodium monofluorophosphate. The names are simply taken from the process that makes them.

You can have peace of mind knowing all origins are traceable. If you do too much of anything it will harm you: drink too much water and it will leach minerals and electrodes from your body, eat too much calcium and it will effect the electrical activity in your heart, eat too much salt and your vessels will burst from water pressure, and if you eat too much fluoride it will stain developing adult teeth in kids or build up too much in the bodies of adults and replace other minerals. So that is why a dentist should be the person who determines how much you get.

That being said, it is very hard to consume too much fluoride. It requires eating tubes of toothpaste either at once, or chronically over years. Not using fluoride risks losing your teeth, a component of the mouth which actually is the first organ in the digestive system, and the source of your health. Poorly chewed food from few remaining teeth wreaks havoc on the digestive tract, and also affects our psychological state. Fluoride is imperative to continue remineralizing teeth, keeping them hard & decay resistant, and chronic mineral loss in teeth may not reveal damage until lots of teeth suddenly begin cavitating. And then it is too late – because putting minerals back in teeth takes much longer than plaque leeching them out.

The cavity problem happens all day to almost everyone, while fluoride damage is almost non-existent in competent hands. May this help alleviate the burden of understanding an otherwise very valuable component of our health and happiness.

This message brought to you by Canepa Dentistry and your dentist Dr. C**t Canepa, proudly serving Jensen Beach, Stuart, Hutchinson Island, Port St. Lucie, and Martin County.

07/16/2025

A controversial subject, but desirably an objective and useful one for your awareness as a consumer: as a successful office, we strive to use our quality control methods to screen other products we see on the market and report on them -- today's topic is yard herbicides.

A breakaway herbicde ingredient defining the last several decades is glyphosate, which binds to plant enzymes, causing the plant to die. It doesn't bind to enzymes in mammals, such as humans, and this is why glyphosate in common brand-name products such as "Roundup" has been so effective. Europe has glyphosate classified as a potential carcinogen, America has it as non-carcinogenic. There is a lot of hypochondria about this herbicide.

Regardless of your belief, it is still one of the safest manufactured herbicides outside the holistic sector, and it breaks down in nature very fast. To our dismay, modern day “roundup” and other brand name herbicides have a lot of extra ingredients allowing more uses. However, you might not like them going into your yard and potentially filtering into the water supply. Even if a brand once had a smaller number of ingredients in it, today a lot more exist while carrying some form of the original name. If you can’t find a herbicide which limits its content to glyphosate and you want to keep more herbicides out of the environment, try this product - it is fundamental glyphosate without all the additions.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Canepa

Keystone Pest Solutions, Glyphosate 4 Plus - 2.5 Gallons (41% Glyphosate, generic Roundup, compare to Gly Star Plus, Credit 41 Extra) [81927-9] - Glyphosate 4 Plus Herbicide - 2.5 Gallon Jug (41% Glyphosate with Surfactant, 4LB per gallon) You may receive a alternative 41% Glyphosate w/ surfacta...

05/04/2025

Here's a useful tip to add superior quality products to your home, save money, and reduce pollution: reusable filters for your A/C system. Any throw away filter has fiberglass mesh. Not only will that blow trace particles into your air, it will also contribute to microplastics, which are so plentiful in our food and water they are now being found throughout our body, including our brains. The company below makes custom size pure aluminum filters for almost the same price as disposable filters, and they will probably last a lifetime. Check them out!

Keep 98% of grease and other contaminants out of your HVAC systems with Research Products EZ Kleen® Custom Size mesh air filters.

02/15/2025

Here's an interesting one: for parents with toddlers - those shoes can scuff seats pretty quick! All the protectors we found were made of low quality synthetics that fray, abrade, and dust a bunch of microplastics into the environment. Interestingly, pure leather cooking aprons exist, and for not much money! We tried one on the seat, after a year of abuse it looks brand-new and it is the best quality product we have had. Highly recommendable for parents who want something that can work wonders and save you money in the long run!

12/22/2024

Canepa Dentistry holiday movie of the year: Mouse Hunt (1997). Check it out, you won't be disappointed!

12/10/2024

Ibuprofen is a longstanding remedy for pain. Many think dental pain is best treated with Tylenol. Most dental pain comes from inflammation. Tylenol stops pain, but it is not anti-inflammatory, so it doesn't work as well. The most effective solution for slight to moderate dental pain is ibuprofen. If you are interested in holistic medicine and do not desire ibuprofen, Arnica Montana 30C sold in local organic grocery stores, supplement stores, etcetera stops inflammatory pain and can have a very similar effect!

10/11/2024

An interesting consideration being environmentally conscientious and improving your life by quality things: authentic fabrics versus synthetic. Usually it takes a brief check of the tag to see what a clothing article or towel is made of. Polyester is a type of plastic, as is elastane, and many others. While they seem harmless in day to day use, each time you put these polyester items in the dryer, they create a lot of microplastics. You can see just how much they create by looking at the lint filter.

This picture is from one run of lab coats which are a 50/50 cotton/polyester blend. Half of these particles are pure plastic, and lift right into the air because they are so small and weigh so little. Then you breathe them in or they fan out into the world. I could only imagine how significant this is when done on a scale the size of a city.

Real fabrics such as cotton not only cost about the same, they last longer and are healthier. Gym shorts, dish towels, socks to name a few, all can greatly improve your happiness and quality of life. Other less common areas are rugs - most today are woven with pure polyester plastic and they case a lot of plastic pollution. Stores buy them casually because few check to see the difference. An internet search for wool rugs will show you all the real products. They cost more, but they become a family heirloom and always hold their value.

May this serve as an example of why it is better to seek textiles made with actual fabric, rather than synthetic counterfeits. Needless to say, we assess every fabric we use and will be giving our business to suppliers who make 100% authentic garmets.

09/20/2024

A life tip borrowed from dentistry: something we all deal with is the risk of neck and back problems. Our head upright weighs 10 pounds on its own, and only more if you lean forward. Over time, chronic strain on the head & neck muscles can cause pain and deformity. To help prevent problems, consider sleeping on your back without a pillow. Even if for a few hours a night, this aligns your neck and spine, and decompresses the vertebrae. You could even put a thin pillow under your shoulders for additional relief. We hope you find this useful!