Health

Exploring the Alternative to Medical Injury Claims in New Hampshire

by

In a post last year I dicussed briefly the early offer system in New Hampshire see The Optional Alternative to Medical Injury Claims. This is the first of the kind system in the United States that is an alternative to the traditional medical malpractice system. An article in the 2013 issue 4 of the American Journal of Law and Medicine has explored this titled “Evaluating New Hampshire’s First-In-The-Nation Early Offer Alternative to Medical Malpractice Litigation,” and written by John W. Masland. The article states “Many states have enacted medical malpractice reforms, recognizing that their tort systems result in protracted litigation, high costs, and a large number of uncompensated victims. One proposed reform, an “early offer” system, allows a medical provider to make a financial offer covering an injured patient’s economic damages, which, if the patient accepts, precludes litigation…On June 27, 2012, … Read more

The Image Gently Campaign in Dentistry

by

If you keep abreast at all with radiation exposure from medical imaging, you may have heard of the Image Wisely campaign. The Imagely Wisely Campaign was designed to have people aware of the fact that certain medical imaging tests such as CT exams are sometimes over used and do not have to be used in certain instances. The goal is to reduce radiation exposure to patients while still providing good medical care, see http://www.imagewisely.org/. The Image Gently campaign is designed to provide information to parents and others to help reduce exposure to radiation for children, see http://imagegently.org/, and has been around since 2007. The campaign is supported by the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging, which is a coalition of healthcare organizations dedicated to providing safe and high-quality pediatric imaging. Recently, it has been announced that a new Image Gently campaign in dentistry … Read more

Does Fluoride Cause Additional Hip Fractures?

by

Researchers are interested in studying fluoride and it’s possible benefits and risks due to it commonly being in water supplies of communities. This is because fluoride is known to help prevent cavities. Even so, some question if putting fluoride in everyone’s water is the right thing to do as some people could experience problems from the water. For example, several studies have shown Large Amounts of Fluoride Consumed by Young Children Leads to Fluorosis. Hence, it is beneficial to minimize fluoride exposure to young children. Others have looked at the opposite end of the age spectrum: old people. Researchers in Sweden have investigated the possibility that fluoride in the water can lead to additional hip fractures. The study consisted of a large amount of Swedish residents who were exposured to fluoride levels with the researchers testing a hypothesis that there … Read more

How to Manage Pain Patients in Dental Practice

by

An interesting article appears in J Can Dent Assoc 2012;78:c83 titled “Neuropathic Orofacial Pain Patients in Need of Dental Care,” written by Gary D. Klasser and Henry A. Gremillion. It was posted online on August 17, 2012, over at http://www.jcda.ca/article/c83. The abstract of the article states “Dental pain is a common complaint among the general population. Most pain is a result of traumatic injury or bacterial infection in pulpal and periapical tissues, and dental practitioners are successful at diagnosing these conditions and providing prompt relief. However, in some cases, patients continue to complain of persistent pain, which may be categorized as neuropathic. These people may avoid or neglect routine dental treatment or interventions to prevent precipitation, perpetuation or exacerbation of their pain condition, and practitioners may have to modify their procedures when managing the dental needs of this unique population.” … Read more

Stem Cells Can Help Fight Inflammatory Disease

by

A recent study shows that stem cells found in mouth tissue can help relieve inflammatory disease. The stem cells studied are gingival mesenchymal stem cells (GMSC) which are found in gum tissue in the mouth. Similarly to other types of stems cells, GMCS develop into cells that effect the immune system. The study found two differet types of GMSC: those that arise from the mesoderm layer of cells during embryonic development (M-GMSC) and those that come from cranial neural crest cells (N-GMSC).  The two types of stem cells vary substantially in their benefits. N-GMSC was found to be easier to change into other cells include neural and cartilage-producing cells. N-GMSC was found to have more of a healing effect on inflammatory disease. When the researchers transplanted N-GMSC into mice with dextrate sulfate sodium-induced colitis, which is an inflamed condition of … Read more