Health - Medical Information

I recently had a root canal, and, although it's not something I'd want to do every day, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Basically, I was eating again within a few hours, and the "cold sensitivity" and soreness from that tooth is gone. Hopefully, the tooth will be good for many years to come. One part of the treatment that I was glad I did is that my dentist recommended that I see an endodontist for the treatment. It just seemed like a no-brainer to go with someone whoe specializes in these kinds of procedures and has extra training in this field. It did cost a little more, but because I have pretty decent dental insurance, it only added around $50 to my copay.
Some information on prices -- braces cost, root canal cost, dental crown cost, and a tooth implant cost.

I go to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Palo Alto, and I am super-happy with the treatment there.
A useful reference source is MedlinePlus.gov, which is part of the National Institute of Health. For example, here's information on the common cold and headaches.

In terms of shopping for health-related information, I've used Drugstore.com, which is OK. On the one hand, they have pretty good selection and reasonable, but not necessarily the lowest, prices. I order from them around once a year to stock up on some hard-to-find items, like vitamins and supplements from reputable manufacturers (where you are at least kind of confident you're actually getting the ingredient you ordered). My recommendation is kind of lukewarm because I would think their selection would be wider -- considering they're on the Internet. They're no Amazon.com of medical products.

A few friends of mine are doctors, and one tip they gave me for selecting a doctor (especially for a specialized treatment or an elective procedure) was to make sure you found someone who was board certified in that area. One thing I didn't know is that once you're an MD, you can try to give any kind of medical service. For example, even if your doctor's specialty is general medicine, he or she might try to provide services like lasik eye surgery or botox treatments, because these can make good money. The problem is, the doctor may not be as qualified as someone who is board certified in that area. (IE, you might want a doctor board certified in dermatology for botox treatments, or someone board certified in plastic surgery for a breast augmentation.) You can find whether a particular doctor is board certified in a particular are at the American Board of Medical Specialties.

Well, it's not my thing but I had some links & information on this topic (a friend of mine is a cosmetic dermatologist). And even though I think of myself as not into this kind of stuff, I must admit I did have a couple oil pores and skin tags zapped before my wedding. Here's information from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.