Health

Dental Cleanings May Reduce Stroke and Heart Attack Risk

by

A study in Taiwan looked at those who have had professional tooth scraping and cleaning performed and found that they had reduced risks of stroke and heart attack. The study showed that more frequent scraping/cleaning was associated with more reduced risk compared to never having teeth cleaned/scraped or occasionally having it performed. The study looked at over 100,000 people and found that if either a dentist or dental hygienist scraped and cleaned teeth those people in that group had a 24% lower risk of a heart attack and a 13% lower risk of a stroke when compared to those who never had a dental cleaning performed. The people in the study were followed for an average of 7 years. The study was conducted using data from the Taiwan National Health insurance data base. One of the researchers was Emily (Zu-Yin) … Read more

Decode Medical Bills

by

Here is an interesting info-graphic about health care in the U.S.

American Dental Association Toothflix Demo Series

by

Recently the American Dental Association (ADA)  has released a Patient Education DVD series called Toothflix. It contains 23 different video segments which explore different topics designed to educate patients on their oral health and prevention and treatment strategies. The complete series including all 23 segments currently is available for $699. Each segment is around 3 to 6 minutes long. It is intended to be played on a TV and DVD player in the reception or waiting area of a dental office. It could also be used in actual treatment rooms perhaps to help explain more clearly certain topics to patients. In addition another use would be for when a dentist goes out into the community to give a presentation or some other event. The ADA has 7 of the segments partially available on their website for demonstration purposes. I reviewed … Read more

The Cyberchondriac: Managing the Difficult Patient

by

There is an interesting series over at QuantiaMD on Managing the Difficult Patient. Presentations are available for viewing as long as you sign up for with your email. One such presentation was originally called The Patient Who Knows too much but has been changed to The Cyberchondriac. http://quantiamd.com/player/wywzswwh?courseid=31844 Mary Modahl  who is QuantiaMD Chief Communications Officer said after the original title was added  “‘The Patient Who Knows Too Much’ is a very poor title. Certainly a patient can never know too much. In every way, we’re supportive of doctors meeting their patients’ need for care.” Dr. Joseph Scherger, vice president for primary care at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, defines a Cyberchondriac in the presentation: “This is a patient who is on the internet…indiscriminate with the material they are reading…they consider themselves an expert yet often their true medical … Read more

Swimming and the Potential Harmful Effects on Your Teeth

by

Recently an article has appeared on DrBicupsid.com titled Swimming in acidic pool nearly destroys man’s teeth written by Rob Goszkowski and posted on September 6, 2011, located at http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=rst&pag=dis&ItemID=308363 The article describes a case of a 52 year old man who nearly lost the enamel of his teeth in just 5 month by swimming regularly at his home pool. In fact, while it is widely appreciated that exercising regularly is good for your health you should consider the potential harm of any sort of new exercise program and yes this includes swimming and even walking. This man was suffering from hemangiomas in his liver and was told by his doctor to stop jogging so he decided on his own that he would take up swimming and in fact would do so for 90 minutes a day at a pool in … Read more