The Health Reform Bill signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010, is sure to change the face of healthcare in America – for better or worse. The bill represented one of the most contentious legislative battles in recent memory. So contentious, in fact, that the final vote split down party lines. Within the dental industry, the story was no different. Many industry groups hold opposing stances with regards to the bill. Some groups even neglected to take an official stance due to the highly-politicized nature of the bill. What we can all agree on, however, is that the Health Reform Bill will produce a number of changes to the way dental care is administered, promoted and payed for.

16 Ways Dental Care is affected by the Health Reform Bill

Sadly, not much has been said in the mainstream media about the specific ways the Health Reform Bill will affect those of us in the dentistry field. In fact, that’s the inspiration behind this post. Below, you will find a list of the ways this bill will affect you – the dental professional – minus the politics. The Health Reform Bill will:

1. Require insurance plans to include pediatric oral health services for children up to 21 years of age

2. Establish an oral health prevention program and fund states to develop oral health leadership

3. Enhance oral health data systems

4. Implement dental sealants, water fluoridation and preventive programs

5. Establish a five-year national, public education campaign focused on oral health care prevention and education and targeted to certain populations, including children, the elderly, and pregnant women

6. Require essential health benefits package to include oral care among other things

7. Award demonstration grants in consultation with professional oral health organizations to eligible entities to demonstrate the effectiveness of research-based dental caries disease management activities

8. Authorize the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) to review payments for dental services in Medicaid and CHIP

9. Establish a process for updating payments to dental health professionals

10. Reaffirm that dentists will be members of the Commission

11. Establish a separate dental section and funding line of $30 million for training in general, pediatric, and public health dentistry

12. Increase eligibility for new grant programs in the Title VII Health Professions Programs to train dental and allied dental health professionals

13. Make dental schools eligible for federal grants for pre-doctoral training, faculty development, dental faculty loan repayment, and academic administrative units, grants currently available only to medical schools

14. Modify current law to allow hospitals to count dental and medical resident time spent in didactic (scholarly) activities toward Indirect Medical Education (IME) costs in hospital settings and toward Direct Graduate Medical Education (D-GME) in non-hospital settings (dental school clinics)

15. Authorize grants to establish training programs for alternative dental health care providers to increase access to dental health care services in rural, tribal, and underserved communities

16. Exempt dental coverage from the premium amounts subject to excise tax on high cost insurance plans

The takeaway? Both the patients being served and the way dental care is delivered will look quite different in the coming years. Only time will tell if these measures will represent a positive or negative change for dentistry. What are your thoughts?

Your Thoughts

I know you guys have opinions about the measures set forth in the Health Reform Bill that specifically relate to dentistry – let’s hear them. Leave a comment below and let the discussion begin!

Additional Resources

As you can see, I just scratched the surface with the list above. Take a look at some of these additional resources from the ADA, ADHA and ADEA for more in-depth information related to dental care’s place in the Health Reform Bill.

• ADHA: Key Oral Health Provisions Contained in the Final Health Reform Bill
• ADA: Health Care Reform: Improving Oral Health in America
• ADA: Health Care Reform Legislation: Side-by-Side Comparison
• ADEA Applauds Passage of Health Care Reform Legislation

Recently, WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, partnered with Colgate-Palmolive to launch Heartwarming Smiles, an initiative to help educate women throughout the U.S. about the impact proper oral care can have on their heart health.

Heartwarming Smiles will focus on empowering women by providing the knowledge and tools needed to make positive lifestyle changes to help reduce their risk of heart disease. The campaign’s online resource, www.womenheart.org/ourPartners/heartwarmingsmiles.cfm, is specifically designed to encourage women to talk with their physician to discuss their overall health and the simple changes they can make to help reduce the risk of heart disease and improve their oral care.

So, what inspired the Heartwarming Smiles Campaign? If you’re a dentist or physician, you know that poor oral health, specifically gum disease, may impact heart health. More and more research is suggesting a link between the two. However, the general public is largely unaware of this connection. It’s no surprise that this is the case, as evidenced by a recent national survey that found:

• More than half (53%) of Americans with primary care physicians report that they never discuss their oral health during appointments with them.
• More than one in three (35%) Americans visiting dentists regularly say that they never discuss any non-dental medical issues during their dentist visits.

“Since heart disease is the leading cause of death for Americans, it is increasingly important that patients take the initiative to establish open lines of communication with their doctors and dentists,” said Elizabeth Klodas, M.D., F.A.C.C., President, Preventive Cardiology Consultants (Edina, Minnesota). “Patients need to inform their physicians and dentists of any major oral health issues or heart conditions they may have to ensure optimal care. Patients should ask about measures available that may help improve their overall health, like using Colgate Total, an antibacterial toothpaste that fights plaque and gingivitis, an early form of gum disease.”

So, what’s the takeaway here for dentists and primary care physicians? Talk to your patients. If your a dentist don’t take the approach that medical issues unrelated to your patients oral hygiene is not your concern. The same goes for physicians – don’t neglect to talk with your patients about oral hygiene issues. This information can only help you to perform your job better and better serve your patients.

For more information about the Heartwarming Smiles Campaign, or to access tools to educate your female patients about the oral hygiene/heart health link, visit womenheart.org.

Recently, Proctor & Gamble, makers of Fixodent, the number one dentist recommended brand of denture adhesive, announced the launch of the “Circle of Confidence,” a unique network of experts created to provide confidence and give denture wearers a team to confide in as a person, not a patient.

The ‘Circle of Confidence’ program was founded following a Fixodent survey to find out how women dentures feel about themselves compared to women without dentures. The survey, “Fixodent Beauty & Aging,” found that denture wearers place more importance on their smile than the average woman over 40. They believe this is the first thing others notice about them, and the idea of getting dentures was a source of anxiety for most wearers before they got dentures.

Fixodent Survey Results

• Two in ten (19%) women age 40+ have full or partial dentures
• Nearly two-thirds (63%) of female denture wearers say they felt some anxiety right before they got their
  dentures.
• Nearly half (40%) said they feared that their dentures would slip or not fit well.
• A third of women feared that their dentures would be painful.
• Women in the 40+ age group are most likely to say their smile is the first physical feature that people notice
  about them.
• Most female denture wearers (67%) say they smile more often since getting dentures.
• The biggest fear for these women is if they had to get dentures, 61 percent say it would ease their
  worries to know their dentures would stay in place. About half (51 percent) say it would lessen their
  conerns to know they could eat almost all the foods they now enjoy.
• Roughly 20 million women age 40+ wear full or partial dentures and more than three million women are living
  their lives in fear of doing something as simple as eating out.
• Women age 40+ who wear dentures and those who don’t wear dentures agree on at least one thing – denture experts are the most helpful online resource for getting information about dentures.

To help ease this anxiety, Fixodent has joined forces with dental expert/prosthodontist Dr. Lawrence Brecht; lifestyle/nutrition expert Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.; and beauty expert Lois Joy Johnson, to provide women with insights to help them feel confident with their new smiles.

To ease the anxiety of your new denture-wearing patients, send them to the Fixodent Circle of Confidence website, which is available on dentureliving.com. This powerful website helps restore confidence in new denture wearers through information that helps them educate and empower themselves to experience life, not dentures.

Circle of Confidence Overview

Your Thoughts

Does your experience with denture wearers over 40 mirror the findings in this Fixodent study? Do you believe your patients would find the ‘Circle of Confidence’ to be helpful in restoring their confidence?

The following is a guest post by Dr. Catrise Austin. If you are interested in guest posting for Dental Heroes, sign up here.

Have you been thinking about changing your smile for a while and just haven’t had the guts to take that step? Perhaps you’ve been a bit nervous about making the change. Maybe you’re a bit apprehensive about coming to the dentist and your fears are keeping you from making a change. Maybe you want to make a change and just don’t know what options are available to help improve your smile. Or maybe, just maybe you need a smile makeover and don’t even know it!

My New Book

Well I’m here to help. I’m Dr. Catrise Austin, “Dentist to the Stars” and author of a new book called “5 Steps to the Hollywood A-List Smile: How the stars get that perfect smile and how you can too!” I wrote this book for those of you who may feel like it’s finally time to address your smile needs and are ready to take the journey to achieving a new smile and a new you.

My Personal Story

If you feel like you’re alone, don’t worry because I’ve been there. What started out as a routine visit to the dentist for me at the age of 15 literally changed my life and my future. You see, growing up, I never felt confident about my teeth. I never liked the look of my smile. I thought that I would be stuck forever, hiding behind a smile that didn’t make me feel pretty or confident. I thought that I was simply going to have to live life with the smile that I was given.

However, during a routine dental visit, my dentist urged my mom to invest in those ugly metal braces for me. As ugly as they were back then, I was so excited. I wore braces for a year and when the braces came off, I felt like Miss America or America’s Next Top Model or something! Changing my smile literally changed my life forever. My dental experience even led me to become a dentist to help you. I was lucky because after being teased all of my life, I knew that I needed a change. But some of you may not be so sure. How do you know if your smile is on the A-List or D-List? The first step in my book “5 Steps to the Hollywood A-List Smile” is to assess your smile.

Should you alter your smile?

Many of my patients are surprised at how much work is involved in making the decision to alter their smile. But I don’t want anyone making hasty decisions; I tell everyone that is considering a change that it’s important to come face-to face with their smile, find out their needs, and then discover how these needs relate to what might work– or not work – for them. So in my book, I take you through several exercises to help you decide if a change is needed. Today I’m going to share a few of these exercises with you.

The Mirror Test

The first test is called “The Mirror Test”. The purpose of this test is to see for yourself exactly what your smile looks like; this way you can begin to rate it more accurately and be better prepared to face what’s going to be needed to make the change in your smile.

Here are the five steps to The Mirror Test:

1) Look in the mirror: Seems like a no-brainer, sure, but have you ever really looked into the mirror? Sure, we glance at it from time to time throughout the day, usually as we pass by,
but it’s the rare person indeed who actually looks deep into the mirror and sticks around for what comes next. Even when we comb our hair or apply our makeup or fix our ties, we are often
merely spot-checking a very specific area of our head, face or neck; we don’t really soak in the whole picture. So the first step of The Mirror Test is to stand in front of a well-lighted mirror
and look, really look, at yourself.

2) Smile: Okay, now look at yourself and – smile. That’s it; just smile. Smile like you normally would; not too wide, not too thin. Smile like you mean it, hold it and look at it. That’s all; just smile.

3) Close your eyes: Now close your eyes; that’s right – smile and then close your eyes. Think about what you just saw; think about your smile.

4) Smile again: Now open your eyes and smile again. Repeat Step 2, from above, and this time really, really concentrate on not just how your smile looks but how it makes you feel. Check
your gut reaction to tell whether you are pleased, disappointed, shocked, relieved – or a combination of all four.

5) Write down your first impression: Be quick, be bold, be brave and, most of all, be HONEST.

Now the next step is to gauge your current smile by using the “Hollywood Smile Quiz” that can be found in my book or you can jump right to the good part and rate your smile using my Hollywood Ratings System. Hollywood is a place where everybody wants to be ranked on a list of some sort be it, “Best-Dressed”, “World’s Sexiest”, or “Most Powerful”. But what if you could rate your smile? Well now you can by using my simple Hollywood Ratings System. While looking in the mirror still, try ranking your smile.

Which List Are You On?

Here are the 4 ratings—A-List, B-List, C-List, or D-List.

The “A-List” Smile (4 Stars – ****): People with A-List smiles know it – and are not afraid to share with the world how confident and beautiful they feel. It’s the smile worthy of the red carpet; this smile is marked by a wide range of positive characteristics, including:

• No visible cavities or fillings
• Clean teeth (no evidence of plaque or tartar)
• Straight teeth
• Teeth in proportion to your mouth (not too big or too small; not too short or too long)
• Healthy gums (pink in color)
• White teeth with lack of discoloration (yellow, brown, gray or black)
• Fresh, pleasant breath
• Even, uniform and proportioned gum line and not “too gummy”

The “B-List” Smile (3 Stars – ***): The B-List Smile has the same basic characteristics as the A-List Smile, only certain changes are starting to develop causing it to lose some of its natural luster and shape. These include:

• Moderately clean teeth (slightly visible evidence of bacterial plaque or tartar)
• Mild yellowing (or other discoloration of teeth, such as brown, gray or black)
• Mild rotations, spaces or other misalignments
• Hesitance or reluctance to smile
• Minor flaws (chips; worn enamel)
• No visible cavities or fillings
• Fresh, pleasant breath

The “C-List” Smile (2 Stars – **): Signs of the C-List Smile include:

• Visible cavities (brown or black spots/discolorations)
• Visible old fillings or crowns
• Moderate buildup of plaque and tartar that is visible when you smile
• Moderate yellowing or other discolorations (brown, grey or black)
• Moderate flaws in alignments (moderately crooked; moderate spacing or gaps)
• More noticeable flaws (sizable chips, moderately worn enamel)
• Red, swollen gums
• An uneven gum line (or a “gummy” smile)

The “D-List” Smile (1 Star – *):

• Obvious neglect due to infrequent dental visits, accompanied by very little to no smiling
• Large, noticeable cavities
• Visible old fillings or crowns
• Severe tartar buildup that is noticeably visible
• Severe yellowing or other discoloration
• Severe flaws in alignment
• Red, swollen gums
• Loose teeth
• Uneven gum line
• Accompanied by bad breath from lack of dental care

How did you do

So, how did you do? A-List, B-List, C-List or D-List Smile? Congratulations if your smile made the A-List! If you rated yourself and came up short of your expectations don’t worry; there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. All you have to do now is figure out what you want out of your smile and go for it! Maybe you’re a businessman who realizes his current smile is affecting sales (and not in a good way). Perhaps you’re a student who sits in the back of the class and covers her face when she is called upon because you’re so insecure about your smile. Maybe you’re an actor, singer, or model who wants to complete your look and impress the masses with that A-List Smile. Maybe you’re a busy mom or housewife who simply needs a new and exciting reason to smile. With this information you can change your world forever.

Maintenance or Makeover

Perhaps this process helped you realize that it won’t take that much to get that A-List Smile; on the contrary perhaps you came to the realization that it’s going to be harder than you thought. Either way, now you KNOW; and knowledge is power. It’s up to you now to decide if your smile just needs basic maintenance or a makeover. All that I ask of you is to simply take charge of your dental health and the appearance of your smile today. If you’ve been guilty of putting off your next dental exam and professional cleaning, or addressing the appearance of your smile for whatever reasons, consider visiting your dentist to maintain a healthy and dazzling smile. For more smile tips, options for enhancing your smile, and for your VIP pass to dental resources, pick up my new book or click to order “5 Steps to the Hollywood A-List Smile: How the stars get that perfect smile and how you can too!” today.

About the Author:

Dr. Catrise Austin owes her A-List career to a love of belly laughs. As a new dentist, Dr. Austin enjoyed many nights at the comedy clubs of New York City where she met up and coming comedians such as Chris Rock, Tracey Morgan, Mike Epps, and Dave Chappelle. Before you could say, “Brush after every meal” Dr. Austin was known as the “Dentist to the Stars”.

But Dr. Austin, who originally became a dentist because of how she felt as a young girl with a less-than-perfect smile, knew that great smiles weren’t just for Hollywood. So she wrote 5 Steps to the Hollywood A-List Smile (Dr. Austin’s Website ) a primer of everything you need to know about having a great smile including:

- Rating your smile
- Dictionary of dental services
- Finding affordable dental services
- Steps you can take at home to create a great smile

Win a copy of: 5 Steps to the Hollywood A-List Smile

Dr. Austin graciously provided a copy of her new book for one lucky Dental Heroes reader! To win a copy, simply follow Dental Heroes on Twitter and tweet the following message to your list: “Win a Copy of Dr. Catrise Austin’s new book, “5 Steps to the Hollywood A-List Smile,” on the Dental Heroes Blog. http://bit.ly/4Mvb2X”

New York, NY (October 16, 2009) Although 72 percent of Americans have fillings, caps or crowns and one in six had a dental emergency during the past 12 months, most are not prepared to deal with a dental emergency, according to a recent survey conducted by Majestic Drug Company, a leading provider of oral care products.

Interestingly, in the national survey of 1,000 Americans, those with a lower income (less then $35,000) were more likely to have had a dental emergency in the past 12 months (vs. 14 percent of those who make $100,000 or more).

Of those who had a dental emergency, 23 percent involved a loose crown or cap, 10 percent involved a lost filling, while 72 percent said their dental emergency involved something else.

Among those who had a dental emergency involving a loose crown/cap or a lost filling, 67 percent immediately went to a dentist, and 14 percent looked for a temporary solution to purchase, while 19 percent did nothing at the time.

“You keep medical supplies on hand for cuts and bruises, but what about your teeth? It’s important to be prepared for a dental emergency in case one happens, especially if the emergency occurs on a weekend when your dentist just isn’t available or you are on the road and cannot seek immediate dental care,” according to Brian Gold, D.D.S., who practices in Monticello, NY.

Dental emergencies can range from a dislodged cap/crown or lost filling to a knocked out tooth to pain or a cracked denture. Majestic Drug Company explains some common dental emergencies and suggestions for treatment.

• Knocked out tooth – If a permanent tooth is dislodged from the socket, try gently replacing it into the tooth socket. Do not scrub the tooth clean—you can damage the fibers needed for reattachment. If that doesn’t work, place the tooth in a glass of milk to keep it moist. Get to a dentist immediately.
• Mouth pain – A throbbing pain from a toothache may indicate an infection and a dentist should be consulted as soon as possible. Tooth sensitivity can be combated by the use of desensitizing toothpaste such as Sensodyne. Irritation from mouth sores can be alleviated by the use of specialized oral pain relief products such as Orajel.
• Lost filling – Rinse out the cavity with warm water. Apply a temporary filling product such as Dentemp® O.S. which can be made into a ball and pressed firmly into the cavity
• Cracked or broken denture – According to Dr. Gold, all denture wearers should have a spare pair to use until the other is repaired. If not, it is good to keep on hand an emergency denture repair kit such as D.O.C. Emergency Denture Repair Kit, available at your local pharmacy.
• Dislodged cap/crown – Apply a temporary dental holding product such as Dentemp® O.S. and gently replace the cap onto the tooth. Make sure you get a proper fit
• Irritation from Braces – Sharp wires can be coated with special dental wax available at your local pharmacy

Remember, temporary dental solutions are just that—they are temporary. Make sure to seek professional assistance from your dentist as soon as possible.

For additional information, please go to MajesticDrug.com or search Dentemp® O.S. on Facebook.

Totalbeauty.com recently approached Irwin Smigel, DDS., founder and president of the American Society for Dental Aesthetics(ASDA) and creator of Supersmile, to define a set of criteria that he believes makes for good teeth.

Dr. Smigel responded with the following:

Regular dentist visits, not smoking, minimizing your coffee, soda and red wine intake, and brushing and flossing. Other factors, like having hard water or a dry climate, can also stain teeth or create a dry mouth (which can hurt gums)(totalbeauty.com).

With these criteria in hand, Totalbeauty.com analyzed data from cities across the U.S. to determine the 14 cities with the worst teeth.

The 14 U.S. Cities with the worst teeth

1. Biloxi, Miss.
2. Huntington, W.Va.
3. Mobile, Ala.
4. Tulsa, Okla.
5. Baton Rouge, La.
6. Bristol, Tenn.
7. Greensboro, N.C.
8. Houston, Texas
9. Atlanta, Ga.
10. Las Vegas, Nev.
11. Miami, Fla.
12. St. Louis, Mo.
13. Little Rock, Ark.
14. Albuquerque, N.M.

Read the Rest of the Story

To read a detailed breakdown of the study results, visit Totalbeauty.com.

Your Thoughts

Was your city on the list? Do you agree with the study results? Were the criteria sufficiently comprehensive? Please share your thoughts in a comment below.

Academy of General Dentistry supports FDA ruling on dental amalgam
The AGD has long supported amalgam as a safe and effective dental restorative material…

Hey, I told you previously that I’m a sucker for good causes, and the fantastic dental charities that I’ve listed below are no exception. Sadly, the ironic thing about our poor economy is that more people are in need of these charities’ services than ever before, yet fewer people are in a position to ensure that these charities remain funded. In any event, I believe it is important that we’re aware of these charities so they’re more accessible to those in need. Without further ado, here’s the list:

1) The National Children’s Oral Health Foundation

The National Children’s Oral Health Foundation “is the only independent non-profit national children’s health organization exclusively focused on supporting delivery of comprehensive oral healthcare for economically disadvantaged children(ncohf.org)”. Their 10-year plan includes educating and screening 20+ million children, and treating $5 million of those throughout the U.S. and globally.

Link: www.ncohf.org

2) American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Charitable Foundation (AACDCF)

The AACDCF is quite unique in that a portion of their mission is dedicated to providing dental care services at no cost to survivors of domestic abuse. You’ll also see the AACDCF providing much-needed dental work to victims of natural disasters. If you use Twitter, you can follow them (@TheAACD). I follow them myself – real good people.

Link: AACD.com

3) Healthy Smiles Healthy Children

Founded in 1987 by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, Healthy Smiles Healthy Children’s mission is to “support and promote education, research, service and policy development that advance the oral health of infants and children through adolescence, including those with special health care needs(aapd.org).”

Link: AAPD.org

4) National Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped (NFDH)

The NFDH is a charitable affiliate of the American Dental Association that’s dedicated “to arranging comprehensive dental treatment and long-term preventive services to needy disabled, elderly or medically compromised individuals through a national network of direct service programs that involve
more than 12,900 volunteer dentists and 2,700 volunteer laboratories(NFDH.org).” The NFDH claims to provide $15 of dental services for every $1 they spend!

Link: NFDH.org

5) Oral Health America

Oral Health American differs from the other organizations on this list because their primary focus is advocacy. Their mission is “to improve public health by eliminating oral disease, especially for the country’s most vulnerable citizens. OHA works to accomplish this by educating and empowering communities to provide access to care, and by advocating for policies that create oral health parity(OralHealthAmerica.org).” Over the years, Oral Health America has been responsible for a number of notable oral care awareness programs including: National Smile Month; the National Spit Tobacco Education Program (NSTEP); Smiles Across America®; the Special Olympics Special Smiles.

Link: OralHealthAmerica.org

Share Others You’re Aware Of

I realize that this list is just scratching the surface. There are hundreds of charitable organizations with similar goals making a difference in people’s lives every day. That’s where I could use your help. If you know of others that Dental Heroes’ readers should check out, please leave the name of the organization and their website address(if applicable) in a comment below. Thanks!

Periodontal disease and risk of atherosclerotic coronary heart disease
Increasing evidence supports the notion that periodontitis is associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis…

According to TMZ.com, the gossip juggernaut, Michael Jackson frequented dentists to feed his anesthesia addiction.

As we have already reported, medical professionals have told TMZ Jackson was an “anesthesia addict,” who would would seek out Propofol and other drugs that would sedate him or knock him out. Law enforcement is aware of this, sources say, and dental offices are part of their investigation (TMZ.com).

In fact, TMZ reported as late as today that the Drug Enforcement Agency(DEA) in fact contacted a number of pharmaceutical companies in an effort to identify the individual(s) responsible for purchasing the powerful anesthetic, Propofol, which is believed to have killed Jackson. Apparently this will be no small task as each vial of Propofol is marked with just a lot number. There’s potentially a thousand vials in a lot.

My Take

What’s disturbing to me about this case is not that Michael Jackson was addicted to illegally-obtained anesthetics, rather the widespread corruption within our medical/dental communities. Stories like this place a negative stigma on hard-working, honest doctors and dentists. In this case, it was even reported that Jackson’s use of dentist’s as a source of anesthetics was widely known. Yet, no one thought had the guts to report this to authorities. Sadly, I’m not surprised.

Source: TMZ.com

The Special Libraries Association has recently name The Journal of the American Dental Association, commonly known as JADA, to the list of the top 100 most influential journals of biology and medicine.

In Good Company

JADA was the only dental journal to make the prestigious list. JADA is joined by other well-known professional medical journals such as The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), The New England Journal of Medicine, The British Medical Journal, etc.

According to the ADA, the following describes the selection process:

As part of its centennial celebration this year, SLA’s Biomedical and Life Sciences Division conducted a poll of its 686 members of record to come up with the list. For the sake of uniformity and fair comparison, only journals of original research and professional practice were eligible. Results were announced in June(ada.org)

Congratulations goes out to everyone involved with JADA.

Your Thoughts

Are you an ADA member whom regularly reads the JADA Journal? What are your thoughts?

Unfortunately, for those of you hoping to see something akin to “Girls Gone Wild” only with dentists instead of girls, then I’m sorry. You won’t find that here. But, if you find it elsewhere let me know. Only kidding.

In fact, the reason I chose that title is because I found it rather fitting for a piece written by Reader’s Digest in the July issue. In that article, Reader’s Digest collected candid thoughts from 22 dentists around the country regarding what they truly think about when they examine your teeth. Some of their comments were really pretty surprising.

Here’s a few that I found especially interesting:

If your breath is bad, we won’t tell you unless you ask.
– Gary Herskovits, DDS, family dentist, Brooklyn, New York

Kids with dental problems often struggle in school. They’re distracted and easily agitated. Teachers will say they have behavior problems, but they really have toothaches.
– Winifred J. Booker, DDS

If you want to reduce the bad bacteria in your mouth, you should be all over xylitol [a sugar substitute found in chewing gum]. It changes the chemistry of your mouth. Six or seven pieces of xylitol gum every day will help keep cavities away.
– Chris Kammer, DDS

For a lot more of these dentist “confessions” you can find the original article entitled, “50 Dentist Secrets: DDMs Share Hygiene Advice on Teeth, Gums, & More,” on the Readers Digest website.

The Back Story

According to HeraldTribune.com, a Florida mother has been booked on felony child neglect charges for failing to seek proper treatment for her daughter’s severe tooth decay.

The little girl dealt with tooth pain for more than a year before her grandmother suggested to the offender, Tamika S. White, that she take the child to the dentist. Heeding her mother’s advice, Ms. White took her daughter to see a dentist about her tooth pain. The dentist diagnosed the child’s condition as “bottle mouth,” a common form of tooth decay found in infants and toddlers. At this point, Ms. White was informed that Medicaid coverage would not pay for the treatment – which is incidently quite common these days.

Ms. White refused to attempt to collect child support payments from her child’s father. Furthermore, she failed to search for specialists who could treat her daughter that did accept medicare. Privy to this information, the authorities arrested Ms. White on felony child neglect charges.

My thoughts

I’m admittedly struggling a little with assessing blame in this case. On one hand, it seems incomprehensible that a parent would allow their child to suffer without exhausting all treatment and payment options. This case certainly does seem like outright abuse on its face. However, another part of me wondered if Ms. White had the resources to seek a specialist whom accepted Medicare. I also don’t know what the situation is with Ms. White and her child’s father. There could be something there preventing Ms. White from contacting him to ask for child support payments? We don’t know that part of the story.

Your Thoughts

Should Tamika White be in jail on child neglect charges? Is this case black and white, or is there a gray area that we have to consider as I suggest?

The State of Tooth Decay

If I asked you what the number one chronic childhood disease is, what would you say? Asthma? Diabetes? Heart murmur? Sleep disorders? Hay fever? No. The correct answer is – tooth decay. In fact, tooth decay in children is five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever (http://www.ada.org/public/manage/you/working_access_fact.pdf).

Our junk food culture, coupled with holidays that glorify sugar-filled candy(ie. Easter & Halloween) certainly contribute to the high incidence rate of childhood tooth decay. However, the public’s general lack of childhood oral care know-how is also to blame. Outside of the dentist’s office, where can you find preventative oral care advice geared towards children? The internet? Sure, but there is a relatively small number of reputable health information sites online, and even then the majority of the population can not identify them. School? Fat chance. Friends? Probably not. So, where should a person look for credible childhood oral care information?

Enter Oral-B Stages.

Oral-B Stages is a new childhood oral care initiative by Oral-B that:

…seeks to teach parents how to properly care for their child’s teeth right from the start, and ensure a lifetime of healthy, happy smiles(oralb.com).

The Stages

What’s unique about Oral-B Stages – just as the name implies – is its staging system. The stages are broken down according to a child’s age. The stages are as follows:

• 4 to 24 months
• 2 to 4 years
• 5 to 7 years
• 8+ years

For each stage, Oral-B has incorporated years of research into a number of helpful recommendations for optimally caring for your children’s teeth. For example, in stage 1(4 to 24 months), Oral-B recommends that you begin brushing your child’s teeth as soon as the first tooth comes in. At stage 2(2 to 4 years), it is recommended that you watch your children while they brush your teeth so you can help when their dexterity is limited – and so on.

Oral-B Stages Products

Beyond providing helpful information, Oral-B has also developed a dedicated product line for the Oral-B Stages initiative. These products are specifically designed to accommodate the unique needs of children in each stage. This includes special soft bristles, ergonomically-tailored handles, and age-appropriate themes. To learn more about Oral-B Stages products, visit the Oral-B website.

More Information

For more information about Oral-B stages please visit the Oral-B Kids Care Center. Finally,
I’ll leave you with a video featuring Dr. Laura Jana, M.D., author and founder of Practical Parenting Consulting, LLC, as she discusses with a group of bloggers the Stages program.

Your Thoughts

Has your family tried Oral-B stages products? Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Please share.

A review earlier this week in the Australian Dental Journal by a group of “dental experts” claimed that mouthwash containing alcohol has been linked to increased oral cancer risk. Certainly this comes as a shock to most of us who are routinely told that mouthwash is a great supplement to toothbrushing for the removal of plaque and warding off gingivitis.

The claim

The review author, Michael McCullough,Associate Professor in Oral medicine at Melbourne University, found that there is “sufficient evidence” that use of alcohol-containing mouthwashes can increase a person’s risk for oral cancer. The alcohol component seems to be the key contributor to the increase in risk here. McCullough claims that the alcohol allows cancer-causing compounds(carcinogens) to attack the lining of the mouth more easily than mouthwash not containing alcohol.

McCullough’s Recommendations

McCullough recommends that mouthwashes containing alcohol be made available by prescription only, and prescribed only for limited use. He also called for the American Dental Association to reconsider giving its seal of approval to such products, and that warning labels be included on their packaging. Finally, McCullough proposed that oral cancer screenings become a routine part of any dental checkup.

I’m not convinced

Yet. There’s simply not enough evidence at this point to definitively link mouthwashes containing alcohol to oral cancer. What McCollough’s review failed to do is quantify the risk. Just how high or low is it? Furthermore, a number of studies within the last 10 years have failed to prove a solid link between alcohol-containing mouthwashes and oral cancer. Professor Laurence Walsh, head of the School of Dentistry at the University of Queensland, responding to McCullough’s claims said,

“A wide range of critical and systematic reviews over many years have failed to show any statistically significant association between mouthwash use and oral cancer.”

So, don’t give up using your alcohol-containing mouthwashes just yet. I’m still convinced that they provide a valuable role in your mouth’s defense against gum inflammation and plaque. There’s simply not enough evidence to suggest otherwise at this point. As always, I’ll be following this story and update you as necessary.

Your thoughts

Will you give up using alcohol-containing mouthwash?

Sources: medguru, abc.net.au

New Tooth Whitening Smoking Cessation Aid

All of you smokers out there listen up. No, I’m not going to lecture you. You already know that smoking is horrible for your health. But, if you’re serious about quitting and are considering using gum to do it, then you’ll want to pay attention. Nicorette®, one of the more popular stop smoking gums has developed a product called White Ice Mint, which purports to be the first stop smoking aid to have the ability to whiten teeth.

According to the makers of this product, GlaxoSmithKline:

A new survey found half (49 percent) of smokers surveyed say the yellowing of their teeth strongly contributes to their decision to quit smoking.(2) Further, younger smokers (68 percent) under the age of 35 are especially concerned about the effects of smoking on their teeth, and more of them (82 percent) want to quit smoking because of it.(2)

What’s also significant to me from the study was the finding that 72% of those surveyed believed that the added tooth whitening benefit was enough to encourage them to try the gum and quit for good.(2)

I don’t know about you, but I think Nicorette® is on to something here. Clearly plain ol’ stop smoking gums are not compelling the masses to quit smoking. So, Nicorette® took it one step further with the whitening agents. While a great idea, I find it funny personally that smokers are apparently concerned about their appearance with regard to these tooth whitening benefits, but they’re fully aware of the disastrous health effects of smoking. Ironic?

For More Information

If you’re interested in purchasing Nicorette® White Ice Mint stop smoking gum, it’s available over-the-counter at any major drug store or supermarket. If you’d like more information about White Ice Mint gum, you can visit http://www.nicorette.com/.

Citations

(1) Silagy C, Stead LF, et. al. Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 1996, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD000146. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD000146.pub3. Available at: http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab000146.html
(2) Survey of 327 smokers, Richard Day Research. September 2008.

Source:earthtimes.org

OOOPS. I goofed. I was alerted to the fact that this piece is completely untrue, and is in fact satire. Unfortunately, I missed this line from the CAP News site, “All material is satire and ©2005-2008 by Crystal Air Productions”. My apologies to the ADA and McCain/Palin Campaign.

Dental Heroes Gets Political – Sort Of

Let me preface this post by saying that I’m not intending to turn Dental Heroes into a political blog anytime soon – there are plenty of other places to get political news. However, this story happens to involve the American Dental Association(ADA), so I think it’s relevant.

“Drill, Baby, Drill”

Many of you are probably familiar by now with the Republican Party’s oft-used slogan, “Drill, Baby, Drill”. They use this of course when they refer to their energy policy. Specifically, they believe in drilling for oil on our home soil wherever they can – to hopefully reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Well, turns out the ADA coined that very slogan sometime back in the 1970′s, and they subsequently claimed it as their intellectual property. It’s hard to believe, but the ADA actually tested the slogan in a pilot program in Oregon in 2002. Guess how that one turned out? That’s right, it was a dismal failure. There’s something about the thought of dental drills that just doesn’t get people to rush to the dentist. So, the phrase “Drill, Baby, Drill” has been buried by the ADA, although they still claim it as intellectual property.

“We’re certainly not going to remain silent when Drill baby, drill is hijacked,” the ADA said this week on their official Website. The McCain camp responded by accusing the American Dental Association of “unpatriotically hoarding an energy-related catch phrase.”

“Well geez, we just want cheap gas and stuff, and these Obama-loving dentists want to keep us from doing that. How un-American is that?” Palin asked a cheering crowd in Raleigh. “What do they expect us to chant? Sink an exploratory well baby, sink an exploratory well? All righty, let’s try that then.” The crowd mumbled over a few attempts before shifting en-masse to the easier, “Kill the ADA! Kill the ADA!”(CAP NEWS)

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see this back-and-forth banter – even though it’s the last thing McCain and Palin should be worrying about right now.

Your Thoughts

What do you think? Should McCain and Palin continue to use the “Drill, Baby, Drill” slogan, or should the ADA’s intellectual property rights be observed?

For the full SATIRICAL PIECE, visit CAP News.

I know, I know. To some of you, I’m playing the part of the scrooge, only a few months early this year. I can assure you that I don’t advocate abolishing Halloween, or even abolishing handing out candy on Halloween. Let’s be serious, I’m not an absolutist. But, I do think it’s wise for us to take an extra 10 seconds to think about the types of candy we’re placing in our shopping carts when stocking up for the Trick-Or-Treaters.

No Sour Candy

No sour candy. That’s the major rule I’d try to follow this Halloween. There are plenty of other candy choices, and most kids like the non-sour stuff as well. I’m talking about getting rid of the “tear jerkers”, and the sour gummy worm-type stuff. You know, the stuff that makes you pucker when you eat it. I freely admit that I used to love this stuff as a kid. But, I know better now – especially after reading a recent article found in “Market Watch“. The article likened the ph of sour candy to that of battery acid! Yeah, battery acid. If that’s not frightening, then I don’t know what is.

Why sour candy is bad for your teeth

Ok, so I’ve told you why It’s not good to hand out sour candy on Halloween, but how exactly does it effect teeth. Erika Feltham, a Registered Dental Hygienist, says:

It is not at all surprising that this candy is a contributing factor to acid erosion. With repeated exposure and frequency, sour candy can also lead to a host of oral health problems, including increased cavities, tooth sensitivity, staining, soft-tissue sensitivities and loss of shine.

Halloween candy tips

The following are additional tips for dealing with sour candy on Halloween, contributed by the California Dental Hygienists’ Association (CDHA).

• Look for the following acids on the back label of ingredients and avoid them: citric, lactic, malic, tartaric, fumaric, adipic, ascorbic
• If you choose to consume sour candies, rinse your mouth with water immediately afterwards to reduce the damaging effects from the acids

Your thoughts

Think I’m overreacting. Should we let kid be kids? Let me know.

Lets face it, you may like smokeless tobacco, but smokeless tobacco HATES your mouth. This, despite the message Major League Baseball players are trying to sell you. In fact, you may be surprised to find out that chew contains more than 2,000 chemicals – many that have been directly linked to causing cancer(quittobacco.com). Furthermore, it has been shown that chew users have an oral cancer rate several times higher than that of non-tobacco users.

If you're not convinced yet that chew can cause massive damage to your mouth, take a look at some these images of oral cancer caused by chewing tobacco.


Do you chew? Did you know that the effects of using chewing tobacco were so serious?

A little Smile Goes a Long Way

Let’s face it, people are pretty judgmental by nature. It may be the way someone talks, their weight, their walk – whatever. But, think for a moment about what you typically notice first about a person.
I’m willing to bet that many of you say – a person’s smile. Apparently, with the tooth whitening craze that began several years ago, I’m probably not far off. With this craze, of course, tooth whitening products began flooding the market. The problem is, who knows which actually work, and which just look pretty but do nothing to whiten your teeth? Well, good Housekeeping Magazine set out to answer that very question, and they named their top 4 picks for best tooth whitening product.

I can’t verify the Good Housekeeping findings personally, so you’ll have to take their advice cautiously just like you would any buying decision of this type. But, their findings should non-the-less get you on the right path.

Top 4 Tooth Whitening Products

1. Aquafresh White Trays ($35, drugstores) “These prefilled trays, worn 45 minutes a day for one week, ranked tops on whitening…”

There’s a little review in there…but nevermind his discussion about women’s undergarments…lol

2. Crest Whitestrips Daily Multicare ($40, drugstores) “In two weeks, these strips lightened almost a shade, on average…”

3.Listerine Whitening Quick Dissolving Strips ($24, drugstores) “These strips didn’t whiten as vividly (an average of half a shade), but scored high for taste and ease…”

4.Crest Whitestrips Premium ($35, drugstores) Got the time to go even whiter? Try this GHRI favorite. A 2004 test found these strips lightened teeth more than three shades, on average…”

There you have it. The Top 4 Tooth Whitening Products according to Good Housekeeping Magazine.

Your Favorite Tooth Whiteners?

Do you have a favorite tooth whitener? Tell us about your experiences with it.

The following is a guest post written by Blake Abel, of Antibraces.com. Please note that I am not opposed to the usage of traditional metal braces. I do, however, feel that it is important to highlight alternatives to industry standards in order to allow you to make the most informed personal decision possible. With that said, take it away, Blake.

A Healthy Smile is a Good Smile

A straight, well-aligned smile looks great, that is something everyone agrees. But a straight and beautiful smile usually means it’s also a healthy smile. So put yourself in a healthy state of mind, and look at some of the benefits of a properly aligned smile.

Invisalign Cares for your Gums

Signs of periodontal disease, such as swollen gums and redness, are apparent in people with malocclusions. Teeth that are too close together or wildly running from each other can cram and allow very little space for your gums to find a comfortable home. Research studies have shown that when teeth are properly aligned, it helps the gums fit tighter around the teeth, which can lead to better periodontal health. Invisalign has a great advantage in the ability to align teeth. So if you have issues with gum health, see a dentist and find out if it is because those teeth are crooked. Invisalign braces also allow you to brush and floss on a regular basis because of their removable aligners, so you can more easily prevent tooth decay and mouth related diseases and issues.

Side Note: watch the dental heroes’ latest video about fluoride. I guess many toothpastes aren’t all their cracked up to be. AntiBraces use a great product called Gly-Oxide. It is a liquid antiseptic that you put two drops on your toothbrush then add toothpaste. It also works well at cleaning your Invisalign aligners. Thanks Dr. Osmunson for that great video!

Lightweight Alternative

One of the Invisalign system’s best qualities is that it uses no metal bands, brackets, or wires that may trap food and plaque like traditional braces do. And since the removable nature of Invisalign allows you to maintain good oral hygiene habits, you may also reduce chances of plaque buildup, tooth decay, and periodontal disease.

Proper Alignment

When incorrectly positioned teeth and jaws are left untreated, you can have speech difficulties and painful chewing issues or jaw problems. Invisalign treatment or braces can improve both of these problems by aligning your teeth and jaw so talking and chewing is easier (don’t do it at the same time!). Many people think they want braces or Invisalign strictly for aesthetic reasons. “I’ll look so much better.” You feel so much better and can function so much better by getting the treatment as well.

A Comfortable Choice

Misaligned teeth and jaws can cause abnormal stress on your body. This can cause tender strain and trauma to supporting bone and jaw joints. Now you no longer have teeth issues, but pain in your neck, cheeks etc… It is important to think about the health of your entire body and how your teeth affect that. These issues can also cause abnormal wear on your teeth, which can trigger continued problems in the future. Once you straighten your teeth with Invisalign or braces, the comfort in and around your mouth is present and noticeable. The structure of your entire face can change after straightening your teeth as well, causing muscles and bones around your jaw to be stronger and more fortified with healthy gums, straighter roots and better bite.

It is important to realize that straightening your teeth is not just for appearance and self-confidence, but for the health of your mouth. Start with fixing your smile to help keep yourself healthy, and benefit in the future.

For more in-depth information regarding Invisalign, please visit Blake Abel’s, antibraces.com, an invisalign information site.

Note: Invisalign is the registered trademark of Align Technology, Inc. and not Dentalheroes.com.

For most of us, the challenges faced by war-torn and impoverished people around the world are unfathomable. For some of us on the outside, it’s easy to simply employ the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. However, others are compelled to action. One such group that’s trying to make a difference in the lives of people living in such areas is Right to Play. Listerine, recently partnered with Right to Play to donate up to $100,000 to the group’s cause.

Who is Right to Play?
According to their website, Right to Play is an “international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play programs to improve health, develop life skills, and foster peace for children and communities in the most disadvantaged areas of the world.”

Listerine’s Commitment
Listerine has pledged to donate $1 to Right to Play’s Red Ball Child Play program for every click on the designated link on Listerine.com, up to 100,000 clicks. How will this help? 100,000 clicks will help Right to Play reach 500,000 kids in 23 countries. All it takes is a click(as of 06/20/02 26,939 clicks have been tallied).

How can I help?
To add to the click count(only 1 per person), simply visit the Right to Play initiative’s page on Listerine.com and click on the button titled “Click to Help”. That’s all it takes to make a contribution towards Listerine’s $100,000 commitment.

If you’re aware of other humanitarian efforts headed by dental-related companies, please let me know so I can post about their efforts.

Halitosis is all around you – its at the office, at the mall, and even in your home. What is halitosis? Bad Breath. Nobody likes having bad breath, but we hate when other people have bad breath even more. So, what are the possible causes of halitosis, and how can we combat the condition?

What is Halitosis?
Halitosis, according to Wikipedia, is:

…breath odor, foul breath, fetor oris, fetor ex ore, or most commonly bad breath are terms used to describe noticeably unpleasant odors exhaled in breathing – whether the smell is from an oral source or not.

Halitosis is often worse in the morning than at any time during the day due to dryness and inactivity at night. For most people, halitosis is transient, as it will “often disappearing following eating, brushing one’s teeth, flossing, and rinsing with specialised mouthwash(Wikipedia).” However, a more severe case of halitosis, known as chronic halitosis is not easily treated.

Halitosis Causes

• Stress
• Fasting
• Eating certain foods(such as garlic, onions, fish, meat, cheese, etc.)
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Alcohol consumption

Halitosis Sources

• Gum disease
• Nose
• Tonsils
• Stomach
• Systemic Diseases

Preventing Halitosis
Tammy Davenport from About.com Dentistry notes several ways to reduce the chances of acquiring halitosis. She suggests “regular dental check ups & cleanings, flossing daily, and brushing your teeth & tongue twice a day can greatly reduce and possibly eliminate halitosis.” It’s important to note that you may not be halitosis-free even if you follow all of these suggestions, rather the odds of acquiring halitosis will drop dramatically.

So, do yourself, your co-workers, family, and humanity a favor by following Dr. Davenport’s advice. If you’re not already after reading this post, you might want to go brush your teeth for good measure.

For a growing number of British residents, do-it-yourself(DIY) dentistry is the only option. Sadly, Britain’s state-financed dental service is stretched to its limit – no longer able to care for a significant portion of the British population. The dire situation is easy to explain: Britain simply has too few dentists to properly care for the large population.

The result is something that you might find in a horror movie. One man interviewed by the New York Times described seeing several people nursing bleeding gums while they waited in line to enlist with a public dentist. What’s truly horrifying is that their bleeding gums was the result of DIY tooth extractions!

“I snapped it out myself,” said William Kelly, 43, describing his most recent dental procedure, the autoextraction of one of his upper teeth.

The New York Times also reports that the number of public dentists operating in Britain is declining at an astonishing rate due to what they call “the assembly-line nature of the job and by a new contract that pays them to perform a set number of “units of dental activity” per year.”

Ok, but British citizens can still go to private dentist, right? Yes, and no. Sure people have the option of attending a private dentist, but many people can’t afford to. Therefore, they either must travel abroad to countries with less expensive dental care, or perform DIY dentistry.

I can’t help but wonder how the socialized healthcare systems proposed by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would compare?

By the way, if you haven’t watched the MadTV comedy sketch I posted last week, Dentist-In-A-Box, be sure to check it out. Sounds like the British could use a product like this.

It’s not often that we hear stories about kids(or anybody) losing their life due to inadequate dental care. However, the recent death of Daemonte Driver, 12, simply because his family could not afford dental insurance should have us all worried. Driver died from complications due to tooth decay. Yes, tooth decay. When is the last time you heard of that? You probably haven’t, but it’s happening all around the United States, and around the world. In Fact,

In 2000, the surgeon general reported that tooth decay was the most chronic ailment for children and that poor children were most at risk.(ABCNEWS.com)

Interestingly enough, Driver’s family was on Medicaid, but couldn’t find a dentist to treat him due to low reimbursement rates. Even with the help of a lawyer, Driver wasn’t treated until it was too late.

To put this problem in the proper perspective, let’s take a look at the numbers. The American Dental Association estimates that 1 in 3 American children do not have dental insurance. That works out to be 25+ million uninsured kids, and the number continues to grow. This compared to 8 million children without health insurance.

Unfortunately, with the sluggish economy and lost jobs as a result, the number of children without dental insurance coverage is sure to grow. So, how do we reverse the trend? On the most fundamental level, we must both increase access to quality dental care and reduce the often prohibitive prices associated with this care.

I’d like to say that I have a bulletproof answer for the dental insurance crisis, but I don’t. We’ve all been bombarded by media outlets regarding Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s socialized healthcare proposals. Unfortunately, if you take the time to read each of the candidate’s healthcare proposals, you’ll see that talk of dental care coverage is lacking. Beyond that, I have serious fundamental problems with the model they’re proposing(I’ll save that for the political blogs). Medicaid, is also not a reliable option for increasing the accessibility of dental care for children. In Daemonte Driver’s case, he was denied care by dentist after dentist simply because they were confident they would not be reimbursed by Medicaid.

The fact that the dental insurance crisis is growing at an astonishing rate is evidence that the current system is not working. If we had a solution, I’m confident(perhaps naively) that our government would have implemented it by now.

What are your thoughts? What will it take to make dental care more accessible, but at the same time drive down costs for families at all income levels?

The American Association for Cancer Research(AACR) recently reported the findings of a Japanese study which found a strong link between tooth loss and increased risk of esophageal, head and neck, and lung cancers. Scientists from the Aichi Cancer Center in Nagoya and Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine found that “…bacterial infection and inflammation resulting from poor oral care that leads to tooth loss could also be driving development of these cancers.”

Akio Hiraki, the study’s lead author notes that, “Tooth loss is a common consequence of chronic bacterial infection and may, therefore, serve as a surrogate for chronic infection and inflammation, which in turn may be important to the pathogenesis of cancer.”

The AACR notes that this is the largest study of its kind, and the first conducted with an Asian population. This study is also the first of its kind to show a link between tooth loss and lung cancer.

I wrote back in January, 2007, about a strong link developing between oral health and overall health. In that post, I referenced an American Dental Association(ADA) report that “…oral bacteria, in some studies, have been associated with heart disease, stroke, diabetes and the birth of pre-term, low- birth- weight babies.” So, the link between oral health and overall health is nothing new. In fact, the link continues to grow stronger with each passing study.

So, what does this tell us? Simple. Dental care cannot be neglected. Our teeth are no less important to take care of than any other part of our body. It may seem absurd to some, but it’s true. The studies don’t lie.

Read more about the tooth loss-cancer link.

Source: American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

Do reported links between oral health and overall health change your attitude regarding dental care? Will you change your oral hygiene habits?

The American Dental Association(ADA) today released a statement stressing the importance of exceptionally good oral hygiene during pregnancy.

This announcement comes as no surprise as the dental community has for several years now been exposing the explicit link between oral health and overall health. However, the link between oral health in pregnant mothers and the overall health of their unborn child is a relatively recent discovery.

Specifically, the ADA research suggests:

“there may be an association between maternal gum disease and pre-term birth and low birth weight babies. In addition, a recent study says that pregnant women with gum disease may be more likely to develop gestational diabetes.”

Without this information, pregnant women have placed dental care low on their list of priorities during pregnancy. These studies may change that.

How should women care for their oral health during pregnancy?

Sally Cram, D.D.S., ADA consumer advisor and periodontist in Washington, D.C. suggests:

“If you are planning a pregnancy, schedule a dental checkup for a cleaning. If you are pregnant, continue your regular dental visits. Be sure to inform your dentist if you are pregnant or suspect you might be pregnant. In addition to regular dental visits, the ADA recommends eating a well-balanced diet, maintaining daily oral hygiene by brushing teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and cleaning between teeth at least once a day with floss or an interdental cleaner.(Source: ADA.com)”

The link between a pregnant mother’s oral health and her unborn child’s overall health is becoming stronger by the day. Therefore, it is important to follow Dr. Sally Cram’s advice and contact your dentist as soon as possible if you are pregnant or expect to become pregnant.

For more information, please visit the ADA website at Ada.com

That is exactly what a growing percentage of people are doing these days as the economic situation in the states continues to worsen, and the prices of gold continue to rise.

According to Steven Jacobs of the Associated Press:

“Instead of hanging on to the pieces as souvenirs, many are turning them over to pawnbrokers, coin shops and specialized firms that buy “dental gold,” hoping to take a bite out of the metal’s historic run to $1,000 an ounce.

Gold set a record of $1,038.60 an ounce on March 17 and has since fallen to about $920, but experts say it could soon resume its upward climb. Several precious metals analysts have even predicted $2,000 gold ahead as a global commodities boom pushes the price of raw materials further into record territory. That would roughly equal gold’s inflation-adjusted high of the 1980s.”

It is not uncommon for the average gold crown to fetch between $40 and $50 dollars in today’s market says Jacobs. Of course, pieces that are heavier will demand a much higher price in today’s market and large pieces are not uncommon. With the fears of a recession abound, it is likely that prices of gold will continue to rise and consumers will look to gold as an attractive option.

For further information, visit an article highlighting the “gold-for-cash” phenomenon at Telegram.com.

So, what are your thoughts about this new phenomenon? Will you be turning in your old gold fillings/crowns for cash?

Just how clean are peoples’ teeth in your city? A recent Men’s Health study sought to find out exactly that. In fact, Men’s Health ranked 100 major U.S. cities on numerous oral hygiene-related factors to determine which city could claim the nation’s cleanest teeth.

To explain the factors involved in ranking each city, Men’s Health stated that the:

“analysis includes stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the number of people who visit their dentists for annual checkups, the number of no-shows whose choppers are dropping out, and the number of households with fluoride on tap. And since warding off gum disease is key to keeping your smile, we also factored in who’s flossing, from Mediamark Research.”

So, which U.S. city came out on top? The winner, believe it or not was Madison, Wisconsin. On the other hand, Lubbock, Texas was not so lucky coming in dead last at number 100.

The studys’ authors further broke down the results and provided top 10 rankings for: Cities with the most households using floss in the past 6 months, cities where the most people visited the dentist within the past year, cities providing the highest percentage of fluoridated water, lowest rate of permanent teeth extractions, and a few other interesting measures.

To see where your city ranks amongst 99 other U.S. cities, visit the article on the Men’s Health website.

A new study released by the Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA) reports that

A New Zealand-led research team found that young adults who were regular cannabis (marijuana) smokers had a higher incidence of periodontal disease by age 32.

This doesn’t surprise me in the least. I guess it’s just one more reason to avoid marijuana. If you don’t think this is a big deal, google “periodontal disease” and take a look at some pictures. You’ll see what I mean.

To read more about the cannabis/periodontal disease link, visit the American Dental Association website here.

Here’s a great story about some large companies giving back to their communities – and it even appears as though there is some sincerity behind their actions.

Carissa Wyant, of the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal reported that several Minnesota companies have recently partnered with the Minnesota Dental Association to provide free dental care to needy kids. The “Give Kids a Smile” program, as it is known, is a partnership between HealthPartners, Patterson Dental, 3M’s Espe Dental Products division and the Minnesota Dental Association Foundation.

The free dental care event will be held on February 1st and 2nd of 2008. Needy participants will receive a variety of necessary exams and treatments to ensure that their oral hygiene is kept in check.

Since 2002, Wyant says that over 25,000 kids have benefited from the “Give Kids a Smile” program.

It’s encouraging to see such a widespread effort by companies that have no obligation to help those in need – but do so anyway. I suspect that this sort of program is available in other states as well, so check your local dental association website for availability.

“Discount dental plans have been gaining quite the following in recent years with both individuals and families alike. With more than 108 million Americans currently without some form of dental care coverage, it is more important than ever before that discount dental plans from sites such as dental-plan-providers.com are advocated as the low-cost solution to traditional dental insurance. The sad fact is that many of these 108 million Americans are unaware of this option. My goal is to change that.

Traditional dental insurance plans offered by employers of mid-large size firms feature many drawbacks, including: costly deductibles, tedious claim forms, long waiting periods and other limitations. Furthermore, many dental insurance policies enforce annual maximums regardless of coverage necessity. Some people are even denied care to begin with if they have certain pre-existing conditions. Thinking about a cosmetic dentistry procedure with dental insurance? Good luck. Most dental insurance policies will not cover cosmetic dentistry procedures. Worse yet, dental insurance is highly inaccessible unless provided by your employer.

Luckily, there is an alternative.

The alternative I am referring to is a discount dental plan. Discount dental plans are affordable and free of paperwork hassles and costly deductibles. With discount dental plans, there are no annual limits or costly monthly premiums, and members can enjoy discounts on almost any dental procedure all year long. If that isn’t convincing, then maybe you’ll like the fact that the days of tiresome claims forms and other paperwork hassles are over. So too are unfair health restrictions. Still want to get that cosmetic dentistry done? With a discount dental plan, you most likely can. Orthodontics too? You bet. Best of all, discount dental plans are extremely affordable, and available to individuals, families, and groups. Discount dental plans even extend care to include: braces, crowns, root canals, dentures, cosmetic dentistry, and more on select plans.

There is simply no way to compare costly and restrictive traditional dental insurance with low-cost, inclusive discount dental plans. We all know how important dental care is to our daily lives, so we deserve the best at the lowest price. This is clearly discount dental plans in my opinion.

I highly encourage you to take a look at your current coverage and determine whether a dental discount plan is a better fit for you – I think you’ll find that it is.”

Search for affordable dental plans

If I were to tell you that by looking at your teeth I may be able to tell you with some degree of certainty that you’re in for major health problems you’d say I’m crazy right?

Apparently, not so. “Based on information gathered during the 2001 American Dental Association (ADA) annual session, dentists report that oral bacteria, in some studies, have been associated with heart disease, stroke, diabetes and the birth of pre-term, low- birth- weight babies,” reports ADA.com.

Further studies in more recent years have seemed to support this notion, and only now are we beginning to see this information disseminated to the public at large.

If you’re interested in exploring this issue further, and I suggest you do, you may find this site useful…Heart Link to Oral Health

I’ll have more dental goodness for you in my next post. I’ll be discussing the effects of soda on your teeth, and how you can work around tooth decay if you MUST have soda.