Category: Dentistry

Dentistry

Concussion

In College Football Running Backs Hit the Hardest to the Head

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USC Trojans Football Helmet

And, linemen receive the most frequent hits to the head according to a new study.

Thousands of college football players began competing around the United States this week, but with the thrill of the new season comes new data on the risks of taking the field. A new study reports that running backs and quarterbacks suffer the hardest hits to the head, while linemen and linebackers are hit on the head most often. The researchers measured head blows during games and practices over three seasons at Brown University, Dartmouth College, and Virginia Tech.

The study, led by Joseph J. Crisco, professor of orthopaedics in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and director of the bioengineering laboratory at Rhode Island Hospital, documented 286,636 head blows among 314 players in the 2007-09 seasons. Crisco said the new data on the magnitude, frequency, and location of head blows amounts to a measure of each player’s head impact exposure. Ultimately it can help doctors understand the biomechanics of how blows to the head result in injury.

“This allows us to quantify what the exposure is,” Crisco said. “It is the exposure that we need to build upon, so that we can then start understanding what the relationships are with acute and chronic head injury.”

The study appears online in advance in the Journal of Biomechanics.

Concussions and other head injuries have become a source of elevated concern in football and other sports in recent years, with various leagues revising policies to protect players better. In part based on seeing this new data, said Robin Harris, Ivy League executive director, league officials announced earlier this year that full-contact practices would be limited to two a week.

Concussions are a real concern in football.

Protection of the teeth with a custom-fit athletic mouthguard also offers protection of the teeth and jaws. They may also aid in the protection against concussion.

So, players, protect the head and teeth and have a great injury-free season.

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Dentistry

Oregon Dental Board Prohibits Groupon Type Coupon Dentistry

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Paying for referrals has been prohibited for dental services since the early days of the 20th century because of the rampant abuse.

Oregon’s board of dentistry said daily-deal coupons, such as those sold by Groupon Inc., may violate rules barring the payment of commissions for referrals, and the state’s board of chiropractors has banned their use.

“The board has preliminarily determined that these may violate the unprofessional conduct rule,” the Oregon Board of Dentistry said on its website. The state’s board of chiropractic examiners has prohibited the use of “Groupon type fee-splitting arrangements,” according to a July 25 statement.

Groupon and other companies such as LivingSocial sell coupons that offer discounts on products and services from local businesses, making money by taking some of the revenue generated by the sale. Chiropractors in California, the most populous U.S. state, are likely to discuss the matter, said Robert Puleo, executive officer of the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners.

“That’s not something that my board has discussed — we haven’t received any complaints,” Puleo said in an interview. “But I am sure if it’s happening in Oregon, it’ll be coming to California, too.”

Ultimately, the California Dental Board will prohibit such deals as well – as unprofessional conduct.

The best referral for dental services does not come from a fee-sharing coupon deal. Come on folks!

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Dentistry

Work is Good for Senior Americans Emotional Health

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According to the latest Gallup Poll.

While relatively few older Americans work — 9% tell Gallup they work full time, while 11% say they are employed part time — those who are employed have higher Emotional Health Index scores than those who are not working. Even after controlling for all other variables, including standard of living, employed older Americans are still more likely than those who do not work to have strong emotional health. This suggests that having a job can actually be better for older individuals’ emotional wellbeing than not working. However, this relationship is not as strong as satisfaction with standard of living.

Working is good and having some sort of feeling of self-worth is important as you reach your golden years.

Many dentists work well into their 70’s and 80’s – not necessarily for the income because they enjoy the patients and the profession.

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Dentistry

American Obesity Rates Remain Higher Than 20% in ALL States

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According to the latest Gallup Poll.

Colorado continues to be the state with the lowest obesity rate in the country, at 20.1% in the first half of 2011. Fewer than one in four residents are obese in the 10 states with the lowest obesity rates. In the 10 states with the highest levels of obesity, rates are 29% or higher. West Virginia has the highest obesity rate in January through June 2011, at 34.3%, which is also the highest Gallup has measured for any state since it began tracking obesity rates in 2008.

These results are based on 177,237 interviews conducted daily from January through June 2011. Gallup tracks U.S. obesity levels as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, using Americans’ self-reported height and weight to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI) scores. BMI scores of 30 or higher are considered obese.

The 26.3% obesity rate for the nation overall in January through June of this year is essentially unchanged from 26.6% in 2010. However, this 2011 rate is higher than the 25.5% in 2008. So far in 2011, obesity rates are generally more likely to be rising in the states where they are already the highest and declining in the places where they are lowest.

These obesity rates are way too high and I am doing my best to lose weight.

Diet plus exercise should do the trick but it is a slow – very slow – process.

While obesity in the United States as a whole remains unchanged so far in 2011 compared with last year, many of the country’s most obese states continue to see the trend go in the wrong direction. At the same time, many states are registering improvements this year. Still, in no state are obesity rates lower than 20%, revealing residents throughout the entire country have much work to do to begin to tackle the nation’s obesity problem.

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Dentistry

North Carolina Free Clinic Treats About 2,700 Dental Patients

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Charlotte Convention Center
What a wonderful effort on the part of the North Carolina Dental Society and North Carolina dentists who volunteered their time.

Late Saturday afternoon, a small but energetic round of applause erupted at the Charlotte Convention Center as volunteers seated the last patient at a free dental clinic.

The person was the last of 2,700 who poured into the convention center seeking help from the N.C. Dental Society’s clinic for low-income and uninsured patients.

It proved to be the largest free dental clinic ever held by N.C. Missions of Mercy, the nonprofit that ran the event.

Organizers estimated that about 2,000 people who qualified received a total of more than $1 million worth of care, said Mark Schmidtke, ambassador and co-director of community volunteers. The clinic began Friday morning and ended 36 hours later.

Many people had camped out overnight at the convention center, and around 5:30 a.m. Friday organizers realized they were at capacity. They were forced to turn away hundreds.

About five hours later, they determined they could help about 500 more people, Schmidtke said. Then doors were closed again around 11 a.m. Saturday.

The whir of drills continued into the evening Saturday.

It is a tough American economy out there and dentists have stepped up to the plate to help the poor and disadvantaged.

Good work!

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