Melissa: 00:10

Hey. I'm Melissa.

Jam: 00:11

I'm Jam.

Melissa: 00:12

And I'm a chemist.

Jam: 00:13

And I'm not.

Melissa: 00:13

And welcome to chemistry for your life.

Jam: 00:15

The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life. So if this is one of your first times tuning in to chemistry for your life, Melissa really is a chemist. She works as a chemist right now. She's also a Taylor Masters, and she's also a PhD candidate. So

Melissa: 00:31

Hey, yep.

Jam: 00:33

PhD, which is relatively new info. And I Mhmm. I really am not a chemist, which is very true of card carrying not chemist.

Melissa: 00:44

That's right. I am a chemist. I've studied chemistry. I teach chemistry right now, but I'd like to reiterate too that just because I am a quote expert, unquote, in my field. That doesn't mean I know everything, and it doesn't mean I can't make mistakes.

Melissa: 00:58

So I work really hard to find references and make sure that all the information that I'm using is verified. But if anything ever comes up that it's not, I definitely am gonna communicate that to you guys as fast as I can. So what it does mean, being an expert, is Basically, that I know a lot more about how much I don't know about a field.

Jam: 01:20

Right.

Melissa: 01:21

So I think that and I have a very good understanding of the basics in the field. So I'm equipped to go out and find new information and then share it with you guys. So, Jam, do you wanna learn about the new information I found out about today?

Jam: 01:33

Oh, yes. I would love to. Please.

Melissa: 01:36

Okay. Well, as you know, I went to the dentist.

Jam: 01:42

I do know that. Yeah. It's been a

Melissa: 01:43

little bit. It was a little while ago, and I found out that I had cavities. That's pretty sad. I've never had a cavity 4. And so I went back this week to get them filled.

Jam: 01:56

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 01:56

And the woman who helped With the I guess it's a surgery or procedure. She's in school for dental hygiene, and she was so excited about teeth. And we were talking about everything that was going on.

Jam: 02:08

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 02:09

And I realized that everything about my teeth is chemistry.

Jam: 02:15

Okay.

Melissa: 02:16

Because so they went in and they drilled out the decayed part of my tooth, which is gross to talk about.

Jam: 02:23

And

Melissa: 02:24

then they put something in, and then they put a light in my mouth. And I realized that that was probably a polymer, And the light probably put the energy in that it needed to solidify the polymer

Jam: 02:38

Mhmm.

Melissa: 02:39

Or to make the reaction happen to where it could polymerize a bunch of monomers, which we've talked about polymers and monomers before.

Jam: 02:46

Mhmm.

Melissa: 02:47

That's not what this episode is about. But I was getting really excited while I was laying there getting all this stuff done to my teeth because Everything is chemistry. Mhmm. So after we were done, she actually let me feel we'll talk about this probably now that that was a bit she let me feel the composite that they put in your mouth and then feel it after it had hardened.

Jam: 03:12

Mhmm. So I

Melissa: 03:12

got to actually experience it. That was really cool. And then she told me that if I was really worried about cavities, I should get a fluoride mouthwash.

Jam: 03:20

K.

Melissa: 03:21

Okay. So that is what we're gonna talk about today.

Jam: 03:25

Fluoride mouthwash?

Melissa: 03:26

A fluoride mouthwash. Fluoride in general.

Jam: 03:30

One thing that I remember is whenever you this was in a group message where you shared about finding out that you had a cavity. And then a few of our friends were talking about, You know, also not having cavities for a long time. And I just wanna say, if you're someone out there like me who's had your share of cavities already, That's actually normal. The people who haven't are not. So just don't feel any shame.

Melissa: 03:57

Rude. No.

Jam: 03:57

No. People, you know, just not felt any shame. You know?

Melissa: 04:00

Why why can't it be normal both ways? Why can't we both be normal? People who have had cavities and People who have not.

Jam: 04:08

Because the stats don't line up. There's numbers.

Melissa: 04:15

Well, anyway, yes, cavities are normal. And, actually well, this probably we don't have to talk about, but he talked a lot about how They now seal kids

Jam: 04:25

Mhmm.

Melissa: 04:26

Deep grooves in their molars because they are so prone to cavities no matter how good you brush.

Jam: 04:30

Nice. Yeah. See, it can happen. And we use our teeth. They're great tools, and that means that they get dirty or whatever.

Melissa: 04:39

Sometimes need to be repaired. Well, let's talk about decay and how fluoride can prevent against it.

Jam: 04:44

Sweet. Yes. I don't know anything about this.

Melissa: 04:46

Didn't know anything about it either. I knew that fluoride was an ion of an element of fluorine. Mhmm. And that was all I knew, and I'd heard that it helps your teeth. Mhmm.

Melissa: 04:59

So before we can talk about cavities and fluoride, We're gonna have to talk about something else in chemistry, and that is called equilibrium.

Jam: 05:09

Okay.

Melissa: 05:10

This is kind of an abstract concept, this whole concept I'm about to share with you. So I was a little worried, and I practiced it out on my roommate, Nicole, and she said She got it, so I'm hoping you'll be able to also.

Jam: 05:22

Perfect.

Melissa: 05:23

Okay. So we think about reactions as going from a plus b equals c, kind of. Mhmm. You mix these 2 things together and something new is formed.

Jam: 05:34

Okay.

Melissa: 05:36

But in reality, Reactions are made up of atoms so that everything is moving around all the time. So sometimes a reaction Is a plus b create c, but then c breaks back down into a plus b, and then a plus b recombine to make c, And then c breaks back down to a plus b.

Jam: 05:57

So it's just going back and forth Mhmm. A lot.

Melissa: 06:00

Because the atoms are all moving around.

Jam: 06:02

Okay.

Melissa: 06:03

And when they're doing that at equal rates, that's known as equilibrium.

Jam: 06:07

Okay.

Melissa: 06:07

Okay?

Jam: 06:08

So that kinda meaning, like, there's always Some a and b, and there's always some c.

Melissa: 06:13

Yeah. I think it has more to do with the rate at which they're forming and breaking up and not about the amounts of concentration. Although, I'm not. I learned how to calculate equilibrium a long time ago, so I'm a little rusty on the details of that.

Jam: 06:26

Okay.

Melissa: 06:26

But that's not the important part here. The important part is a thing called Le Chatelier's principle.

Jam: 06:34

Woah.

Melissa: 06:36

It sounds fancy. It's a French guy's name.

Jam: 06:39

Mhmm.

Melissa: 06:39

So when a reaction is in equilibrium, when it's reached that equilibrium state, You can throw it out of equilibrium and have more of a plus b or more c depending on which one you want by putting pressure on one side or the other. Not Physical pressure, but stressing one side or the other.

Jam: 06:58

Okay.

Melissa: 06:59

Okay. So here's my favorite example of this that I think you'll be able to understand.

Jam: 07:04

Okay.

Melissa: 07:05

When you have carbonic acid in the soda can, and we talked about this in the does carbonation have a taste episode, it breaks down into water and carbon dioxide.

Jam: 07:14

Right. Right.

Melissa: 07:15

We talked about that. So when it's all in a can, it can be going back and forth. So the carbonic acid breaks down into water and carbon side, and then it combines back together into carbonic acid, and then it breaks back down into water and carbon dioxide.

Jam: 07:30

Okay.

Melissa: 07:30

Yeah. But as soon as you open the can and the carbon dioxide can be released, the elements that you need are no longer there to recombine, and it All stays on the one side. The carbon dioxide and water are formed. The carbon dioxide floats away, and now you can't reform your carbonic

Jam: 07:49

Oh, yeah. And the soda becomes flat over time the more and more carbon dioxide that's leaving The substance. Uh-huh. Right. K.

Jam: 08:00

Got it.

Melissa: 08:00

So something similar happens with our teeth.

Jam: 08:03

K.

Melissa: 08:04

The enamel on our teeth are made up of Something called hydroxyapatite. So that sounds fancy, but it's not super fancy. It's just Sort of an ionic compound. Similar to table salt, but with more moving parts.

Jam: 08:20

Okay.

Melissa: 08:21

Okay. So hydroxyapatite can exist in equilibrium where it's breaking down into its parts. K. And one of those parts is The hydroxide, o h minus, which is a strong base. So if you have that strong base, that hydroxide, and you drink something acidic like orange juice or coffee or even some sodas Mhmm.

Melissa: 08:46

The strong base will bind with the acid. Acids and base will love each other Mhmm. In your drink and then be washed away, and then you don't have everything you need to reform your nice, strong enamel. And then all the other parts are already broken down, and they're more susceptible to be washed away or scraped off when we brush our teeth or whatever.

Jam: 09:09

Oh, interesting. Mhmm. So we're just kinda washing our teeth away a little bit?

Melissa: 09:17

A little bit, but there's hope.

Jam: 09:20

Okay. Good. That's a dark that's a dark realization right there. And for It's

Melissa: 09:25

a dark realization.

Jam: 09:26

Especially when you said coffee. It's like, I mean, orange juice and soda, I can I'm like, okay. Well, you know, don't drink tons of that. But it's like and coffee. It's like, oh, no.

Melissa: 09:36

Coffee, I think, is pretty acidic.

Jam: 09:38

Yeah. My teeth are just gonna float away.

Melissa: 09:41

But that's why you shouldn't brush your teeth right after because I think that would make it worse.

Jam: 09:46

Okay. Got it.

Melissa: 09:47

That's why when we talked about the Why does orange juice make why does toothpaste and orange juice say so bad together? Mhmm.

Jam: 09:54

And

Melissa: 09:55

we talked about you should wait 30 minutes after you drink orange juice or brush your teeth before. Mhmm. Mhmm. So you're if there's enough, if there's some, surely, hydroxide ions left behind, it can reform the hydroxyapatite, or You can introduce something new.

Jam: 10:11

Mhmm.

Melissa: 10:13

For example, a fluoride ion. So fluoride is an ion. It has the same negative charge as a hydroxy hydroxide ion.

Jam: 10:23

Mhmm.

Melissa: 10:24

But instead of Reacting so strongly with acid, it's a much weaker base. So it's much harder for it to react with that acid.

Jam: 10:32

Mhmm.

Melissa: 10:33

So it's going to be more resistant to the wear and tear of normal enamel when it reforms as fluoroapatite. So instead of the hydroxide combining back with all the other components and making your hydroxyapatite, Instead, you're recombining with fluorine and all the other elements and making fluoroapatite. Chloroapatite is very similar to hydroxyapatite, but it's just a little bit more resistant to the acid, and it helps to reform Your enamel when there's been some wash away.

Jam: 11:12

Nice. And so it basically stays on your teeth. It stays

Melissa: 11:17

on your teeth better. I saw some things that tested the strength of it and when they become to break down an acid. And I think it said the pH, which is a level of acidity of fluoro appetite can withstand until it becomes susceptible Double 2 breaking down up to 4.4 pH, which is more acidic than hype hydroxyapatite, which is 5.5 pH, I think. So it's just a little bit more resistant to breaking down in acid, and that's why it helps fight against cavities.

Jam: 11:50

Nice. Sting. Interesting.

Melissa: 11:53

Yeah. Isn't that so cool?

Jam: 11:55

Yeah. That's very cool.

Melissa: 11:57

I wish I had learned this about A relevant application of equilibrium in my actual body

Jam: 12:05

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Melissa: 12:06

Whenever I Learned by equilibrium in general chemistry. I had never learned about this before. I found about out about it in a general chemistry textbook. I had a general chemistry textbook that talked about it, But I didn't learn about this in general chemistry.

Jam: 12:19

Right. Yeah. That's interesting. And that soda example is perfect. It's like a closed container.

Jam: 12:26

This is a sealed off thing where this can continue to happen and not be affected and not lose any of its elements really until you open it. That's, like, a great example.

Melissa: 12:40

Well, in Le Chatelier's principle can It can be executed in other ways. You can maybe add heat or add more of something. If you keep adding more a and b, you'll make more see and so it can kinda shift. So there's other ways that you can control it, but but a good example is the gas Sleeving is similar to what's happening here is you're putting stress on the system Mhmm. And it's shifting away from the enamel.

Melissa: 13:06

Shifting away from the hydroxyapatite and to the breakdown components.

Jam: 13:11

Right. Right. Dang. That is very interesting.

Melissa: 13:16

I was so excited. This was the basic concept I knew about, but I did not know about this application. So very cool. And Big shout out to Destiny at my dentist office because she sat and talked with me all about the ways to take care of my teeth, and it got me really excited to learn about the chemistry of Dentistry.

Jam: 13:34

Yeah. It adds to the things that were like there's been a lot of, you know, kinda anatomy, Biology sort of things that seem like they'd just be in those sciences, but then you realize a huge amount of it's also chemistry.

Melissa: 13:48

Yeah. I was so excited. And I think we'll have to do another episode on the polymers and what's going on when you get your cavities filled.

Jam: 13:58

Yeah. I think that's interesting. Maybe we could wait until I go to dentist soon, which I'm way overdue on, and I would have a a number of cavities to tell you guys about.

Melissa: 14:12

So that's it. That's what I learned about how fluoride Helps protect your teeth against cavities and all of the chemistry behind it, which is very exciting.

Jam: 14:21

Dang. That's awesome. That's very interesting. Do want me to take a crack at explaining it back to you?

Melissa: 14:28

Yes. Please do.

Jam: 14:30

Okay. So our teeth have these little, I guess you could say, like, bodyguards On them called enamel. And part of it part of the bodyguards is the, Hydroxy appetite. Not the whole thing. Right?

Melissa: 14:51

I think, yeah, it's just a component. There's some Other things, but the main mineral component is hydroxyapatite.

Jam: 15:00

And, unfortunately, these bodyguards, Like all of us, get hungry. So whenever we drink a soda or Coffee or orange juice or something acidic. The hydroxyapatite likes acidic stuff because it's basic. Correct?

Melissa: 15:20

Correct. Well, the hydroxyapatite breaks up into different components because of its equilibrium, And 1 component is a very strong base

Jam: 15:32

Okay.

Melissa: 15:33

Known as hydroxide.

Jam: 15:36

Okay. So pretty big part of it, which is why the acid why it has any effect at all. Because they can break down into it, and it likes bases and acids like each other. And so It's like somebody walked by the bodyguards holding a hot, fresh, great smelling pizza. It's not like it completely something that that came and completely destroyed them, but it lured them away because it had a lot of things that it likes.

Melissa: 16:10

Kind of. It's only 1 component. So it'd be more like The enamel is the army. And maybe the army breaks up into factions. And 1 faction really likes pizza, and so you're taking away that A faction.

Jam: 16:24

Got it. Every few bodyguards are very tempted by pizza. Right. Mhmm. Okay.

Jam: 16:31

Which makes sense. It's not this is not every race thing.

Melissa: 16:34

Right. And but then it can't come back together to make a full army anymore.

Jam: 16:39

Right. Right. Right. There's all these spots, all these pieces that are gone now.

Melissa: 16:44

Mhmm. So it can't recombine to its former glory.

Jam: 16:47

Right. Right. Right. So those wash away or walk off to get pizza Mhmm. And they're gone, which leave our teeth vulnerable to attack.

Melissa: 16:59

That's right.

Jam: 17:01

And when they're vulnerable to attack, we can get cavities

Melissa: 17:06

That's right.

Jam: 17:06

Which is some of that stuff, the cavity part specifically and the fillings part or whatever, an episode for another day.

Melissa: 17:14

Episode for another time. Right?

Jam: 17:16

But then we have to find a way to get some bodyguards back in there to fill in the spots that are left in the in the whole army.

Melissa: 17:26

Right.

Jam: 17:27

So when we When we use something like fluoride mouthwash or I'm guessing also the kind of fluoride stuff that they give us at the dentist office

Melissa: 17:40

Mhmm.

Jam: 17:41

It's not the exact same thing that we lost, not the exact same soldiers that we lost, but it is like it. And it goes in, and the chemistry part of this is a little bit Buzzy for me, I guess. But

Melissa: 17:59

Maybe it's more resistant to pizza.

Jam: 18:02

A little yeah. More resistant to pizza. They have been trained. They are on a very strict diet, and they are not breaking from it. The carbs in pizza is something they just cannot deal with.

Jam: 18:15

They're staying well away from that.

Melissa: 18:18

Exactly.

Jam: 18:19

At the most, they might be tempted by a really good wrap or something like that or maybe a maybe a bowl of some kind. And so they come in, fill in those gaps, And it's called fluoro appetite.

Melissa: 18:36

Right. So you replace the hydroxyapatite with the fluoro appetite.

Jam: 18:40

And the molecular level, it's similar enough that our teeth can actually accept it. Correct? So it's like Correct. Similar enough, but actually a little stronger.

Melissa: 18:51

Mhmm. Right. More resistant to acid, really.

Jam: 18:54

To acid specifically. Right.

Melissa: 18:57

So and the just to review the chemistry part of it. So hydroxyapatite breaks up into parts.

Jam: 19:03

Mhmm.

Melissa: 19:03

It's Just so you know, it's some calcium ions, some phosphate ions, and 1 hydroxy ion.

Jam: 19:11

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Melissa: 19:11

And if that hydroxy ion goes off, gets scooped up by acid, then you can't recombine to make the hypoxia appetite.

Jam: 19:21

Mhmm.

Melissa: 19:22

And it's really susceptible to that. So when there's acid in our food or drinks, it gets sucked away. But then we can Replace a component of that with fluorine fluoride ion instead of a hydroxy ion, and then it can recombine into something similar, not They're the same. A new and improved version, fluoro appetite.

Jam: 19:46

That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. I think I'm getting it better now.

Melissa: 19:51

So you've got your army. And when they all break up and they there's like, hey. You can come eat some pizza.

Jam: 19:58

Yeah.

Melissa: 19:58

Bunch of guys leave, and then you can't reform your army as well or as strong as it was before. So then you gotta bring in some reinforcements that Right. Won't walk away when pizza's tempted.

Jam: 20:09

And that looks a little that makes a little more sense realistically with the equilibrium thing too where you're talking like Mhmm.

Melissa: 20:14

It's all

Jam: 20:15

these different parts of Makeup an Army, And they're actually all kinda moving around all the time. It's not like Right. They're forming this very solid wall, and they don't ever break. It's like they're kind of wandering around patrolling, and so that allows for these ions to have a chance to accidentally be tempted by some pizza Because Right. They're out on their own a little bit.

Jam: 20:36

They're not just Mhmm. Always stuck together. Is that right?

Melissa: 20:43

That's right.

Jam: 20:44

Nice. Okay. That analogy slowly snowballed into something that actually made more sense.

Melissa: 20:51

I think it was good. I think that's a good way to think of it. And the big thing is that, essentially, when we introduce fluoride ions into our teeth Our teeth's environment, the hydroxyapatite can be reinforced with appetite, which is a little bit less susceptible to breakdown. Mhmm. Now here's a fun fact for you.

Jam: 21:13

Okay. Yes. Hello, fun facts.

Melissa: 21:16

One chemistry article talked about is in the American Chemical Society journal one of the journals of the American Chemical Society, I'm not sure which

Jam: 21:23

Mhmm.

Melissa: 21:24

Talked about how not only does fluoroapatite have a better resistance to acidic environments, but it also May allow bacteria to adhere less efficiently on surfaces coated with it. Oh. So it's possible that there's a double whammy.

Jam: 21:44

Mhmm.

Melissa: 21:45

That's a new sort of emerging thing, but that's a possibility as well.

Jam: 21:53

Dang.

Melissa: 21:54

And That's quite cool. I think a lot of this is kind of new stuff that they're figuring out what's going on. Because I read a paper from 1946, And they did not give any of this information. And then I read a textbook. And on the American Dental Association, they both talked about how fluoroapatite forms To reap to replace hydroxyapatite Mhmm.

Melissa: 22:14

Which is pretty interesting.

Jam: 22:16

Yeah. You know, that's crazy. It'd be awesome if these These things keep being discovered, and then we get to a point where our teeth can be just totally bulletproof. You know?

Melissa: 22:27

Right. Well, I think a lot of what they're doing now is using polymers and chemistry to reinforce our teeth

Jam: 22:33

Mhmm.

Melissa: 22:35

To get close. But too much fluoride is not good for you because it can, I think, start to get into your bones and try to replace things in your bones too, so we don't want that? So there is a level at which too much fluoride is not good. So governments monitor the amount of fluoride in your drinking water to be at a safe amount.

Jam: 22:55

Got it.

Melissa: 22:55

In some places, it's naturally in the drinking water. And if it is at too high of levels, it can be really dangerous.

Jam: 23:01

Interesting.

Melissa: 23:02

So Don't go drinking Florida every day because you're trying to strengthen your teeth. Just use American Dental Association recommended and Safe drinking water, that should be good to keep your teeth doing better and stronger.

Jam: 23:18

And I don't know how much there is, but there's fluoride in tea, Tea leaves naturally. So drink Interesting.

Melissa: 23:24

A ton

Jam: 23:24

of tea, you might be having a lot of fluoride as well.

Melissa: 23:28

That's cool. Okay. Well, that's it. That's our chemistry for today. I was really excited to share this with you, and I'm excited for the all of the options now that we have with with our dental chemistry of dentistry

Jam: 23:43

Dude. Yeah.

Melissa: 23:44

Stuff. So

Jam: 23:44

Very, very interesting whole section of things. I'm sure that there's a lot to talk about there, but I'm excited about that. That's that's awesome. Very cool topic.

Melissa: 23:53

Too. Yay. Well, I think that's it on in terms of the chemistry stuff for this week. This is a really fun one, so I'm glad we got to do it. But do you wanna share something cool about your week, Jim?

Jam: 24:07

Absolutely. So this is a short one, which I'm sure people are like, yes, please. Youth have been so long trying to tell us to budget, trying to tell us all this stuff. Talking about movies for a couple minutes, whatever. But this this week, my son, we've noticed that he is on the verge of Figuring out laughing in a more serious way.

Jam: 24:31

Yay. Obviously, lots of babies make sounds, and it's hard to interpret What they're doing on purpose and what they're just kind of is just random trying out stuff. You know?

Melissa: 24:42

Yeah.

Jam: 24:44

And it's hard to tie it to actual reacting something else. But we feel like he is getting to a point where he's about to start Reliably laughing at at things that that that bring him joy or that he just thinks are funny or just tickling or whatever. Those kind of the things that are release these early impulses that they start to be able to form reactions to. So that's been really fun. We keep trying to Get him to do it, and we'll get him to make sounds that are a little bit like laughing.

Jam: 25:13

And then we can't get him to do it again for, like, the whole rest of the day. And then the next day, we might get a little more of a hint. So, hopefully, soon, we'll be getting some very cute baby giggles that we can

Melissa: 25:24

And maybe we can get a cute audio clip of a baby giggle.

Jam: 25:28

Yes. Yes. If we can do it, we can line it up and and maybe The recording when it happens.

Melissa: 25:35

Yes. You just hold the mic in his face?

Jam: 25:37

Yeah. No. I mean, like yeah. Sometimes what's hard is, like, he'll do something cute, and we weren't Recording on our phone. You know?

Jam: 25:42

Or we weren't taking a photo or video. So

Melissa: 25:44

It's okay. You're in the moment. I always tell myself, it's okay that I didn't capture that because I experienced it.

Jam: 25:49

Yeah. But if I do capture a baby giggle, I will share it with you guys.

Melissa: 25:54

Yay.

Jam: 25:56

So that is mine. What about you, Melissa?

Melissa: 25:58

Well, mine is about my, not my children, but my students.

Jam: 26:05

Nice.

Melissa: 26:06

Because school started back this week. So, I I was in person, which is a little scary. We tried to do masks, and I hand sanitize every second of the day and Be really careful about what I'm touching and all of that, but I feel a lot better that everyone's wearing mask. I know that's a base level of percussion that really helps.

Jam: 26:24

Mhmm.

Melissa: 26:25

So I've been in my classes this week, and it's been really nice and good. And I've been really tired because it's at 8 AM, and that means I have to be ready to go at 8 AM. Yeah. Which means I have to be up at 6, which is earlier than I'm used to. Yeah.

Melissa: 26:41

But it's been kind of fun to get up and start my day well. It's been really hard to go to sleep on time, but it's been nice to have so much done by noon or whatever.

Jam: 26:50

You

Melissa: 26:50

know? So That's been something I've been both enjoying and working on this week. So that's pretty exciting that school's back in, and I've got my classes, everything set up, Getting settled into the new school year, and that is always a good feeling to see how your schedule's shaking out and get everything in place and rolling. And so it's Pretty exciting. School's back in.

Jam: 27:11

Dude, that's awesome. That is great. I'm sure it also feels you know, it's very different. I'm sure it's nice to have a little bit of normalcy of there being some in person classes and stuff and Yes. Having that Definitely.

Jam: 27:23

Because there was that, like, exciting back to school kinda feeling that

Melissa: 27:27

Right.

Jam: 27:28

Gets you into that a new mode or whatever, and I feel like that's probably even more important now than than normal.

Melissa: 27:35

Yeah. Definitely. I'm very excited and feel really like it's a nice new leaf and feels like things are starting to go back to normal. So, Things stay good, and we all stay safe and healthy, and my students get a good learning experience this semester. Yeah.

Melissa: 27:49

And I get a good learning experience this semester. I'm a student too. Yeah.

Jam: 27:53

Yeah.

Melissa: 27:54

Thanks so much, Jim, for coming and learning about fluoride this week. I was so excited to share it with you, And I kept myself from sharing about it in one of our group chats because I was so excited to share about it with you here. And thanks to all your listeners. We Are so thankful for you. We love hearing from you guys, and we could not do this without you.

Jam: 28:14

And thank you, Melissa, for teaching all of us. And, Melissa and I have a lot of ideas just like this, for topics of chemistry in everyday life, but we wanna hear from you the ideas, the things that come up in your life daily that you wonder about. Us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at chem for your life. That's like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, go to kodashfi.com/ for your life and donate at the cost of a cup of coffee. If you're not able to donate, you can still help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app And rating and writing a review on Apple Podcasts.

Jam: 28:53

That also helps us to be able to share chemistry with even more people.

Melissa: 28:56

This episode of Chemistry Free Life was created by Melissa Colini and Jam Robinson. References for this episode can be found in our show notes or on our website. Jim Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to and v Garza who reviewed this episode.