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Children Visit the Dentist More If Parents Do So

Posted on 22. Mar, 2010 by wisdom.

A new report in the journal Pediatrics shows that children’s level of regular dental care is strongly associated with their own parents’ dental care history. This really comes as a no brainer to me.

It is noted that tooth decay and cavities is particularly common among   low-income and minority children. The researchers looked at data from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey and its Child Health Supplement. This consisted of   a cross sectional study of basic health and demographic information and answers to questions on health topics of current interest.

There were around 6000 matched pairs of data regarding dental visits for both a child and parent in the same household. Among parents who reported seeing a dentist during the preceding year, 86% of children had also seen a dentist. On the other hand 64% of the children of parents with no recent dental visit had seen a dentist during the previous 12 months. In addition, among parents who put off their own dental care because of financial considerations, 27 % of their children also had dental care deferred. In contrast, only 3 % of children whose parents had not put off their own care care had their dental care deferred.

I think it is interesting to explore these relationships amongst parents and children and their dental treatment, but again it really does not come as much of a surprise to me. It seems to illustrate that children are receiving more care than the parents and the more the parents see a dentist the more likely a child will also see a dentist.

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iHATEheadaches.org – Ira Shapira

Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by wisdom.

Recently launched is a new website http://www.ihateheadaches.org/. This website is run by Dr. Ira Shapira a dentist in Gurnee, Illinois.  People should take CAUTION when viewing this site.

First, the site serves as a promotion tool for Dr. Ira Shapira and other neuromuscular dentists in the U.S. Of course, since Dr. Ira Shapira is located in Illinois his practice is the only one listed when you select you live in IL. Currently the site only has one or two dentists at the most for different states. Some states such as Florida currently have no “doctor’s” listed.

Secondly, the site is attempting to aid in the dentists ‘cashing’ in on the headache epidemic. In a press release by Dr. Ira Shapira he addresses a article in Medical Hypothesis (2009) “Migraine, neuropathic pain and nociceptive pain: Towards a unifying concept.“ This article can be found for your convenience at http://www.teethremoval.com/Migraine_neuropathic_pain_and_nociceptive_pain_Towards_a_unifying_concept.pdf

In the summary of the article it states “… we suggest that fundamentally all the three pain syndromes referred to in the article share a common pathophysiological mechanism, namely peripheral pain perception, peripheral sensitization at dorsal root ganglion or its intracranial counterpart (like trigeminal ganglion) and central sensitization at the spinal cord (dorsal horn for somatic pain), brain stem nuclei and thalamus before final pain perception at the sensory cortical matrix.”

Dr. Ira Shapira states in his press release “the problems of TMJ disorders (TMD) are often related to central sensitization of the trigeminal nerve secondary to nociception (painful impulses received by the brain) from peripheral problems.” Dr Shapira also argues that in addition to TMJ problems, sleep apnea can also lead to such things as morning headaches.  Thus because of these two reasons it can be inferred you should see a neuromuscular dentist.

For some people it may help put an end to their headache problems by seeing a neuromuscular dentist. However, in most cases seeing a neurologist or primary care physician may be the first step towards treating headache problems. iHATEheadaches.org goes into many of the diagnosis and treatment options for headache including MRI, ECG, pain medications, natural headache treatments. Call me crazy but I have just never heard of a neuromuscular dentist ordering a MRI for a patient for a headache diagnosis. In fact when I complained of a 24/7 headache after having my wisdom teeth removed my oral surgeon told me to see my primary care physician and that my headache could not possibly be related to removing my wisdom teeth (total BS).

I think Dr. Shapira and other neuromuscular dentists should be promoting their practices as being able to treat headaches, but not mislead patients. Instead he should be focusing on integrating his treatment with other providers such as neurologists, radiologists, neurosurgeons, and oral surgeons. Instead, the site does not mention anything about how to get treatment from the other specialties and makes it so the patient thinks Dr. Shapira and other neuromuscular dentists will be able to fully treat them for their headaches.

As a patient you deserve to have doctors working towards doing all they can to help improve your quality of life.

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Treatment Varies Wildly Among Dentists in UK

Posted on 01. Sep, 2009 by wisdom.

There is an extremely interesting article posted by Ross Slater over at http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/08/24/private-dentists-mirror-investigation-finds-treatment-varies-wildly-115875-21619929/.

The article discusses how Ross went to visit six (6) different private dentists in the UK after having not seen an NHS dentist for over a year. He wanted to see what they would say about his teeth and not all the dentists that he had no current problems with his teeth.

The results were quite surprising. As the number of fillings recommended varied from zero (o) to five (5). The total bill was also wildly varied at each dentist as was the teeth that needed fillings when it was told one was needed. Read the entire article if you are interested to learn more about the varying dental care found.

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Sexual Assault in the Dental Chair

Posted on 29. Aug, 2009 by wisdom.

I have reported previously on two separate oral surgeons and assault of women during oral surgery. You can find the articles at http://blog.teethremoval.com/oral-surgeon-sexual-assault-acquital/ and at http://blog.teethremoval.com/sex-offense-and-assault-after-surgery/.

Another case has come to light of Benva Oshana Lazar who so far has been accused by 8 patients who have said of groping during office visits. This is currently being reported in MercuryNews.

Similarly one of the patients accused the San Jose dentist of groping her during a wisdom teeth extraction procedure. One of the women who is alleging  sexual abuse is 14 years old.

I wonder if the judge this time will also find the dentist not guilty because the women were on “propofol” during the dentist visits and a known side affect is “sexual hallucinations”. This is a ridiculous  claim and clearly if you are a patient at the dentist you should not be taking any drugs while under the dentists care that has “sexual hallucinations” as a side effect. Judges should be able to look beyond this quite silly problem as a legality.

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Orange Juice Bad For Teeth

Posted on 30. Jul, 2009 by wisdom.

Researchers at the Eastman Institute for Oral Health wanted to see the negative effects on the tooth from using whitening products.

Eastman Institute’s YanFang Ren, DDS, PhD, and his researchers looked at the effects of 6 percent hydrogen peroxide which the common ingredient in professional and over-the-counter whitening product. They also looked at acidic fruit juices and found that orange juice markedly decreased hardness and increased roughness of tooth enamel.

The researchers found that the acid is so strong that the tooth is literally washed away. The orange juice decreased enamel hardness by 84 percent.” However, no significant change in hardness or surface enamel was found when they looked at teeth whitening products.

Weakened and eroded enamel may speed up the wear of the tooth and increases the risk for tooth decay. Like soda and acidic fruit juices orange juice can potentially cause significant erosion of teeth.”

It’s long been known that juice and sodas have high acid content, and can negatively affect enamel hardness. There are also some studies that showed whitening can affect the hardness of dental enamel, but until now, nobody had compared the two.

It is important for consumers to understand the acidic nature of beverages, such as fruit juices, sodas, sports drinks, and energy drinks. It also depends on how people drink the drink. People who sip their drinks slowly over 20 minutes are more likely to have tooth erosion than those who drink quickly and do not extend the duration of drinking.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Rochester Medical Center.

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