Tag: Dentistry

Dentistry

Study: Sugar-Free Polyol Gum, Lozenges and Hard Candy Help Prevent Dental Caries

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Spry Sugar-Free Gum

The study also finds that nonfluoride varnishes also help prevent dental decay.

A multi-disciplinary expert panel, convened by the American Dental Association (ADA) Council on Scientific Affairs, issued a report this month containing clinical recommendations that sugar-free chewing gum, lozenges and hard candy including xylitol or polyol combinations, and a prescription varnish with chlorhexidine and thymol could be beneficial in preventing cavities when used as adjuncts to a comprehensive cavity prevention program which includes the use of fluoride-containing products.

The panel noted in its report that these nonfluoride options could provide an extra benefit to prevent cavities in patients at high risk for developing cavities when used in addition to products such as toothpaste, dental sealants and varnishes that contain fluoride as well as community water fluoridation and good eating habits.

The full report is available on the ADA’s Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry (EBD) website (http://ebd.ada.org/). The executive summary of the report is published in the September issue of The Journal for the American Dental Association. The clinical recommendations from the expert panel were reviewed and approved by the ADA’s Council on Scientific Affairs.

What are the exact recommendations?

  • In addition to a comprehensive cavity-prevention program which includes the use of fluoride, the scientific panel recommended that clinicians consider applying a mixture of cholrhexidine-thymol varnish to the teeth of high-risk adults and the elderly every three months to reduce cavities developing in the root of the tooth.
  • The panel encouraged clinicians to consider advising parents and caregivers of healthy children older than 5 years who are at higher risk for cavities to chew sugar-free polyol gum after meals for 10 to 20 minutes to prevent cavities.

A polyol is a low-calorie sweetener such as xylitol, sorbitol or mannitol, which is not broken down by the bacteria in the mouth and therefore does not contribute to tooth decay. The panel also recommended that sucking xylitol-containing sugar-free lozenges or hard candy after meals may reduce cavities in children.

Fair enough and certainly cheap enough that most patients can avail themselves of the protocol.

Application of the varnish in adults could be an access to care issue, however, since it will have to be done in a clinical setting.

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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

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

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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Dentistry

Snuff Use May Increase the Risk for Heart Failure?

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Yes, according to a new study.

Use of smokeless tobacco (or snuff) may increase the risk for heart failure, mainly of nonischemic origin and chiefly by increasing blood pressure and heart rate, a Swedish study found.

When adjusted for age, the use of smokeless tobacco among a cohort of older men was associated with a more than twofold risk of developing heart failure compared with non-users (HR 2.42, 95% CI 1.37 to 4.27), according to Gabriel Arefalk, MD, of Uppsala University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden, and colleagues.

When further adjusted for current smoking dose, pack-years of smoking, diabetes, body mass index, occupational classification, alcohol use, and myocardial infarction before baseline, the use of snuff resulted in a hazard ratio of 2.08 (95% CI 1.03 to 4.22), they reported online in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation.

The researchers noted the increased use of smokeless tobacco in Scandinavia, but also pointed out that the U.S. is the world’s largest snuff market, with an annual growth rate of 6%.

Ugh! While tobacco smoking rate is decreasing or stable in the United States, smokeless tobacco IS increasing.

While tobacoo consumers may bypass the deleterious atherogenic effects of smoking, the harmful effects of nicotine remain.

“Smokeless administration of tobacco may indeed circumvent the atherogenic effects of smoked tobacco, but it is possible that the potent autonomic and hemodynamic effects of nicotine per se are detrimental for cardiovascular tissues,” Arefalk and colleagues wrote.

In particular, smokeless tobacco “increases epinephrine levels, impairs endothelial function, and increases blood pressure and heart rate.”

Just say NO to the use of tobacco products.

They ARE harmful to your health!

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