More Ways to Wreck Your Gums & Lose Your Teeth

If you want to wreck your gums and lose your teeth, smoking is a darn good way to do it. How strong is the association between tobacco use and gum disease? Although most studies report smoking to increase the risk of periodontal disease in the order of two- to six-fold, a study carried out in …

How Smoking Primes the Mouth for Disease, & Other News of Note

In the Mouth, Smoking Zaps Healthy Bacteria, Welcomes Pathogens (MedicalXpress) Despite the daily disturbance of brushing and flossing, the mouth of a healthy person contains a stable ecosystem of healthy bacteria. New research shows that the mouth of a smoker is a much more chaotic, diverse ecosystem — and is much more susceptible to invasion …

Health: An “Active & Deliberate Creation”

Last week, to absolutely no one’s surprise, cooking show personality Paula Deen announced that, yes, she has type 2 diabetes. And what made her decide to go public now, three years after her diagnosis? As she told USA Today, “I felt like I had nothing to offer anybody other than the announcement. I wasn’t armed …

New Warning Labels for Cigs – Will They Help?

So this week the FDA unveiled the 9 new cigarette warning labels – graphic, plain-spoken, obvious… …and required on all cigarette packs, cartons and ads as of September 2012. According to the Health & Human Services media release, the stop-smoking support number 1-800-QUIT-NOW is also included so it may be “seen at the time it …

Antibiotics & the Dairy Biz, & Other News of Note

FDA & Dairy Industry Spar over Testing of Milk (NY Times) Each year, federal inspectors find illegal levels of antibiotics in hundreds of older dairy cows bound for the slaughterhouse. Concerned that those antibiotics might also be contaminating the milk Americans drink, the Food and Drug Administration intended to begin tests this month on the …

It’s Easy to Ignore the Damage You Can’t See

According to the CDC’s most recent data, almost half of all adult Americans have at least one chronic disease, and 70% of deaths are due to chronic disease – mostly heart disease, cancer and stroke. There are a couple major contributors to such illness: environmental factors, over which we have little individual control (e.g., air, …

How Dental Knowledge Changes Over Time

  Maybe someday, we’ll laugh just as much when we see things like this headline:    

Fluoride in Black Tea & Other News of Note

Black Tea Contains More Fluoride Than Ever Thought (Foodconsumer) Black tea may contain a higher concentration of fluoride than previously thought, according to a new study cited in a press release by Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Gary Whiteford of the School of Dentistry, co-author of the study, suggests that heavy tea drinkers could get …

Why It’s So Hard to Tell Which Tooth Aches & Other News of Note

Why It’s So Hard to Tell Which Tooth Has the Ache (Wired) When it comes to a toothache, the brain doesn’t discriminate. A new imaging study shows that to the brain, a painful upper tooth feels a lot like a painful lower tooth. The results, which will be published in the journal Pain, help explain …

The Oral-Systemic Health Link & Other News of Note

Your Mouth Can Tell a Lot about Your Health (SFGate) Troubled teeth and gums aren’t always just a dental problem. Sometimes they indicate deeper issues, and dentists are increasingly picking up the clues…More… Influenza Vaccines: Poor Evidence for Effectiveness in Elderly (PhysOrg) Evidence for the safety and efficacy of influenza vaccines in the over 65s …