Health

Controversy Surrounding Marijuana

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I recently watched a very controversial documentary shown on Wealth TV (re-run had previously aired) titled Marijuana Miracle Cure 2 Wired for Weed. This came out a few months ago in 2013, and seems to be a follow up to their Marijuana Miracle Cure program from 2012. If you have not seen it, you may be able to catch another re-run on Wealth TV or you may be able to find the entire 1 hour program (including commercials) on YouTube. The documentary raises some interesting points about marijuana (aka cannabis) and it’s potentially medical properties. Now the first question, I have, is why does Wealth TV have a documentary on marijuana? It seems from the documentary that they are genuinely interested in the potential medical issues of marijuana. This is because of the focus and nature of the documentary, but there … Read more

Long Term Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

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An interesting article appears in the journal PLOS ONE looking at the consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI) using rate models. The researchers used rat models and found that overtime TBI results in progressive brain deterioration characterized by elevated inflammation and suppressed cell regeneration. Long-term neurological deficits from TBI related to inflammation may cause more severe secondary injuries and even predispose people to neurodegenerative diseases later in life. Traumatic brain injuries are important to study since troops in the U.S. military have increasingly suffered TBI from improvised explosive devices. One of the coauthors from the journal article (Dr. Paul R. Sanberg) says “Progressive injury to hippocampal, cortical and thalamic regions contributes to long-term cognitive damage post-TBI. Both military and civilian patients have shown functional and cognitive deficits resulting from TBI.” In the study researchers looked at different parts of the … Read more

Looking at Evidence Supporting Dental Procedures from Cochrane Systematic Reviews

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An interesting article titled “Is the Evidence Supporting Dental Procedures Strong? A Survey of Cochrane Systematic Reviews in Oral Health” by Clovis Mariano Faggion Jr. appears in J Evid Base Dent Pract, vol. 12, pp. 131-134, 2012. The article sets out to explore Cochrane systematic reviews and whether or not they provide useful information for use in dentistry. The author set out to look at the quality of evidence for Cochrane systematic reviews published in dentistry. The evidence was considered inadequate when authors described weak or insufficient evidence or when no studies were selected for the review. A total of 120 systematic reviews were looked at for 20 topics. The author did have some creative interpretation to assess the reviews. He states: “The full text of articles was, however, scrutinized to assess the risk of bias of included primary studies; methodological … Read more

Improving Patient Safety: Updates on Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

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In a recent blog post I discussed how a few new videos have appeared in recent months related to oral and maxillofacial surgery Videos Related to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) has also updated several sections of their website in the last year or so. They now have a section titled Orthodontics and Oral Surgery where they have videos related to showcasing various techniques that oral and maxillofacial surgeons and orthodontists perform. In addition they have updated and written a new page titled “Culture of Safety“. The page is a welcome addition and discusses how safety is the number one priority in the oral and maxillofacial surgery office. Now I wanted to take a moment to respond to this page and some other developments I have seen lately across the blogosphere. 1) … Read more

Herbs in Dentistry

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In a previous blog post I talked about Using Adaptogens to Help Reduce Stress and discussed 8 different herbs that were reviewed in a 2010 journal article to help reduce stress. The use of herbs is also beneficial for migraine, for example, see this post Daily Preventative Therapies Can Reduce Migraine. Recently I came across the article “Herbs in Dentistry: Evidence-based herbal medicine” appearing in Dental Abstracts, vol. 57, issue 6, pp. 305-307, 2012. The article mentions the use of echinacea mouthwash which when combined with peppermint oil, sage, menthol, and chamomile is effective in gingivitis and periodontal disease. Further, this combination has shown to be effective against colds and flu. The article mentions the possible use of aloe vera  “Aloe vera gel is as effective as prednisolone and indomethacin, without these agents’ long-term toxicity… Uses of aloe vera include … Read more