Culture & Community: A Valentine's Day Special: Kissing Trivia

These little trivia articles are a guilty pleasure of ours. Here you'll find more than you wanted to know about kissing.

With Valentine's Day around the corner, here is some kissing trivia compliments of Elisa Mello, DDS, clinical assistant professor at NYU College of Dentistry and a partner in New York-based NYC Smile Design, a practice that specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive dentistry:

• Kissing can cause cavities. If you kiss someone who may have bad bacteria in his/her mouth, their saliva could pass the bacteria on to you, thereby causing cavities. On the other hand, according to Dr. Mello, others believe that kissing may actually prevent cavities since salvia is the body's natural way of cleaning the mouth.
• South Africa Bans Kissing. In December 2007 the South African government banned kissed involving anyone under the age of 16, regardless of consent.
• A Lifetime of Kissing. The average person will spend an estimated 20,160 minutes kissing in their lifetime.
• First Kiss. 50% of all people have their first kiss before the age of 14.
• Start Your Engines. The average woman will kiss 79 guys before she's married.
• Kisses & Calories. You burn 26 calories in a one minute kiss.
• First Movie Kiss. John C. Rice kissed May Irwin in 1896, and became the first couple to be recorded kissing in the film The Kiss.
• Blarney Stone. According to legend, any person who kisses the Blarney Stone in the Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland, will be endowed with the gift of gab.
• Kissing Record. In September 1990 Alfred Wolfram kissed 8,001 people in 8 hours (over 16 people a minute) at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.
• Ninety Percent Habit-Forming. Ninety percent of people in the world engage in kisses on the lips. Other cultures, such as Eskimos, rub noses.

To keep your mouth kissable, Dr. Mello suggests daily brushing and flossing and an annual visit to your dentist for a check-up. For additional information please go to www.nycsmiledesign.com.

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