Health

Lidocaine shot during dental treatment may have led to heart attack

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An interesting article titled “Acute Myocardial Infarction After a Local Anesthetic Procedure in a Middle-Aged Patient” written by Lei Xiao and et al. appears in the American Journal of Medical sciences (2022). The article discusses how an injection of lidocaine into a 50 year old man during dental treatment possibly induced coronary artery spasm and led to acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In the article the authors discuss how a 50-year old man was admitted to a hospital complaining of chest distress, chest pain, and shortness of breath for the past four hours in March 2020. What had happened four hours earlier, was that the man with no history of high blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, or high cholesterol visited a dentist and had a dental work performed. The man was not a smoker and had no known drug or food … Read more

Deep Breaths by Children can Help Reduce Dental Fear

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An interesting article titled “Breathing out dental fear: A feasibility crossover study on the effectiveness of diaphragmatic breathing in children sitting on the dentist’s chair” written by Martina Levi and et al. appears in the International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry (Feb. 13, 2022). The article sought to explore if diaphragmatic breathing by children can help to reduce fear and anxiety in dental setting. In the study the authors evaulated 20 children who had two dental procedures done on different days who were between the ages of 7 and 13. The children were assigned two groups in one group the children were taught diaphragmatic breathing to be used prior to dental treatment and in the other group they were instructed to start their dental treatment normally. The children in the diaphramatic breathing group only had their dental treatment begin when they … Read more

Physical activity can help reduce gum disease

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An interesting article titled “Leisure-Time and Occupational Physical Activity Demonstrate Divergent Associations with Periodontitis: A Population-Based Study,” appears in the January 2, 2023, edition of Journal of Clinical Periodontology written by Marruganti Crystal et al. The article discusses how physical activity can help to reduce inflammation, which can potentially decrease the risk of developing periodontitis also known as gum disease. Reducing gum disease has been discussed before on this site, see for example the posts Blueberry extract could help treat periodontitis and Natural Supplements to Improve your Periodontal Health. In the article the authors examine data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2014 database. They retrieved data from 10,679 adults and assessed physical activity from the Global Physical Activity questionnaire which classified activity as either high or low leisure-time or occupational activity. A full-mouth periodontal examination was … Read more

Antibiotic resistance: what should dentists know

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An interesting article titled “Antibiotic resistance: The silent pandemia” appears in the International Dental Journal on January 12 2023 written by Angel-Orión Salgad Peralvo and et. al. The article discusses a call to action for dentists worldwide to cut back on their antibiotic prescribing habits arguing that 66% of antiobitics prescibed is not warranted. In the article the authors mention that dentists prescribe 10% of all antibiotics in the world. However, the way they see it, antibiotics being overly prescribed can contribute to the worldwide development of antimicrobial resistance. Antibitoics are used in dentistry for preventive purposes and to avoid systemic bacteraemia in patients at risk or to prevent possible bacterial contamination during surgery. Yet the resistance problem increases medical costs and increases mortality. Therefore they feel that dentists should change the way they prescribe antiobitics as the resistance problem … Read more

Detecting Lou Gehrig’s Disease Markers in Teeth

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An interesting article titled “Early life metal dysregulation in amyotrophic lateralsclerosis” appears in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology written by Claudia Figueroa-Romero and et al. (pp. 872-882, 2020). The article seeks to explore if metal uptake is dysregulated during childhood in people later eventually diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a disease that leads to paralysis and early death that is characterized by motor neuron degeneration and this causes the brain to lose its ability to initiate and control muscle movement. The majority of cases of ALS have no known cause but both genetic and environmental factors are suspected. In the article the researchers discuss how they collected permanent teeth from patients who had teeth extracted or who had died and were obtained at autopsy. The data included teeth from … Read more