Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Cosmetic Dentistry in King County | Dentists in Seattle, Everett, Bellevue and the Eastside

Cosmetic dentistry in King County is as advanced as just about anywhere else in the world. While it used to be that you’d have to go to Hollywood or New York City to find a dental “magician” that could give you a movie-star smile, advances in technology and dental education mean that you won’t have to travel far to get the best results.

Along with the new composite fillings that look and feel like natural tooth enamel, composites can completely remake your smile. Cured outside the mouth, these newer composite veneers can fill gaps, create new crowns and even totally reshape the look and color of natural teeth.

Porcelain veneers have been getting a lot of attention lately. These specially formulated porcelain mixtures are so strong and hard that a very thin veneer can be bonded to your teeth without having to (painfully) grind down the existing tooth material. They are long-lasting, match the appearance of natural teeth and are considered superior to older porcelain crowns.

Replacing lost or damaged teeth can now be done below the gum line. Dental implants that are anchored into the jawbone can be indistinguishable from natural teeth (except when they are X-rayed). While these implants require the patient to commit to careful and continuous oral health maintenance, they can be worth the extra effort for those who wish a better solution than regular dentures.

In-office teeth whitening or bleaching by the dentist outperforms at-home methods of removing stains and discoloration from teeth. The Zoom™ teeth whitening system uses a light activated gel that penetrates the tooth enamel and bleaches away stains better than just about any other method.

The newest method of straightening teeth, called Invisalign™, replaces old metal braces with nearly invisible forms that fit over the teeth. The cost for this particular method is comparable to regular metal braces.

Go immediately to King County Dentists and find out just how your smile can be improved.

Plumbers in King County have it easy. Make no mistake; they’re hard-working, industrious and know their business. It’s easier for them because of the number of older homes in the area.

Plumbing that dates back nearly a century inevitably means leaky pipes. Some of those pipes are actually made of lead, which is toxic to living things who drink water from lead pipes. Many are made of galvinized iron, a material that was never meant to last 100 years and can cause coloration in the water as well as leaking, etc. Repair and replacement of old pipes is just one area of plumbing.

Ground water and wet basements means sump pumps — which need maintenance, repairs and replacements. While the annual rainfall here is less than that of the Pacific North-West (which is classified as a temperate rain forest), there’s still plenty of rain and groundwater to get into the foundations of houses.

Hot water heaters have a limited life span. When they go, they need replacement. Local plumbers can upgrade the quality of the replacement to be more energy efficient (including the new solar hot water solution).

Then there are the inevitable clogs, leaky faucets, sewer problems and the like. Bathtubs and sinks eventually wear out and need to be fixed or replaced. All the normal plumbing chores that need attention just add to the ease with which Scranton plumbers get more and more work.

The trick for Seattle, Bellevue, and other King County residents is to find the right plumber for the particular job that needs doing. A pipe-fitter or steam-fitter is not a plumber. Neither is a “helpful” neighbor with a smattering of plumbing knowledge (who recently screwed up the installation of a float in a toilet). Check out King County Plumbers for a reliable, hard-working plumber.

Seattle Mortgage Brokers | Bellevue Eastside Mortgage Brokers in King County

The word “mortgage” literally means “dead hand”. Figuratively, it means a pledge unto death. Old-fashioned mortgages were never paid off. They didn’t amortize, or liquidate the debt itself. Instead, they gave the right to build and use the property for life, with the understanding that the ownership of the property remained with one who originally owned it.

Old English property laws were intended to protect the holdings of the elite. Mortgages were a way to “monetize” their land without surrendering control of it. Nowadays, the idea that someone could “mortgage” land without eventually surrendering it to the one paying the mortgage is unthinkable.

There are still forms of this archaic method of long-term leasing:

  • Ground rent
  • 99 year leases of property

There is also a type of non-amortizing loan called a “balloon loan” or interest-only loan. Typically, the loan payments are as if one had a 25 or 30 year amortizing loan, but no payments are credited to paying off the principal. Instead, in only 5 to 7 years, the principal becomes due and payable as a lump sum.

Today’s mortgage market has seen a troublesome use of so-called ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage) loans. While these loans are not in and of themselves bad, giving them to those who will not be able to make the payments when the loan “adjusts” upward has created a crisis in the Real Estate market and the world economy as a whole!

Rather than dissect this problem here, consider well which type of loan you choose for your own home purchase or Real Estate investment property. It is up to you to do your own due diligence when it comes to borrowing a substantial amount of money. It is imperative that you do so when that money represents your life savings and your future net worth.

In Seattle and Bellevue, there are a number of mortgage brokers to choose from. The key is to find one that will take into account your total financial plan and fiscal “fitness”. Do your research and find the Mortgage Brokers in King County that will best serve your needs and select the best of the best.

King County - Seattle - Bellevue - Business Directory

After hunting around for a decent portal to showcase the businesses that could use it the most, it was time for King County businesses to DIY — Do It Yourself. In the spirit of “don’t worry, be fast and get something up there NOW”, you can see the first draft of the King County Front Door Portal at: King County Front Door Portal

This portal will be very exclusive. It will be for particular niches or sub-niches that have a top spot available in the search engine results. These particular niches typically spend heavily to promote their businesses or professions, but clearly haven’t gotten their websites (if they have them) indexed for their main keywords.

Several base categories are live at this point. Within a very short period of time, you will be able to put almost any category into the search engine and see the “placeholder” page for that niche. If you are just dying to see what a plain vanilla placeholder page looks like, go to King County Directory - Accounting. Imagine your own business or service with a great spot in that search engine I mentioned.

Now imagine that same spot in the results leads to your website. Through the magic of computers, a kind of call forwarding can make that happen! Best of all, once yours truly either fixes your current page to rank well in search engines or has an exclusive team of Web page builders craft a website for you that will present the right face to your prospects and clients, you’ll be able to stand on your own!