More Patients Visit Emergency Room

Written by Dentistry TodayMonday, 23 January 2012 08:43



Many Americans are turning to the emergency room for dental care. A lack of dental insurance is the reason.

People without dental insurance are increasingly visiting the emergency room because they don’t have any other options. The issue is not a good one for many local medical services. Since many people don’t have the insurance coverage they once did, this is the result.

Dental care isn’t affordable for many people with low incomes or people who are unemployed. The risk of oral diseases, infections and pain is up dramatically because people don’t receive the regular treatment they had in the past.

The Medicaid provision isn’t very helpful for most people. There are 10 states that don’t even have Medicaid coverage for adults. That’s why many people can’t receive affordable dental care, forcing them to turn to other ways to get the care they need.

Based on this situation, free dental clinics are vital for many people. It’s also the reason the lines and wait times are so long when these events take place. The weather conditions don’t deter these people from waiting for the dental clinics because their care is so urgent.

This problem will likely only get worse in the future.

Lack of Dentists Causes Cancer Risk to Rise in South Africa

Written by Dentistry TodayTuesday, 24 January 2012 11:29



People in South Africa are more at risk for mouth or throat cancer than they were in recent years. The reason is simple: there’s a shortage of dentists in the country.

There are fewer than 3,500 dentists who practicing in the entire country, according to the South African Dental Association. With that low number of dentists, there’s no conceivable way for people to visit the dentist regularly.

Some studies show that there are 500,000 people for each dentist in South Africa. Comparatively speaking, there is a dentist for about every 1,700 people in the United States—or slightly more or less, depending on the specific geography region.

With fewer dentists and dental visits, there are fewer chances to diagnose some type of mouth cancer or oral cancer.

There are some people that are going years between visits to the dentist. That problem, combined with smoking cigarettes and marijuana, are causing many issues for the country’s citizens. These issues are only compounded by unprotected sex and oral sex, which makes a person more susceptible to oral cancer.

The South African Dental Association states that the possibility of dying from some type of oral cancer is high based on the lack of dental visits. The reason is the cancer is diagnosed at a stage in which it’s too late to treat the problem because it has likely spread.

New Jersey Plans Possible Changes for Dental Colleges

Written by Dentistry TodayThursday, 26 January 2012 08:56



New Jersey will see alterations to the ways its dental schools are set up, according to a new proposal.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced the reorganization on Wednesday. Under the new plan, Rutgers University will add a medical school.

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey will be split up into Rutgers and Rowan universities throughout the state. The remnants of the Newark campus will eventually be called the New Jersey Health Sciences University.

Adding a medical school will enhance Rutgers' prestige and the way it's viewed.

UMDNJ, which currently has eight different schools, three campuses and the largest charity care hospital in New Jersey, had become too big, according to Christie.

There are other changes in the works if this one eventually gets enacted.

Obesity Could Result in Higher Risk of Tooth Loss

Written by Dentistry TodayThursday, 29 March 2012 07:31



Overweight people have a higher probability of losing their teeth.

But the possible tooth loss has nothing to do with carrying a few extra pounds around. It’s usually their poor diet that adds the pounds, which also happens to be the same problem for their teeth.

A research team from Japan analyzed the eating habits and overall oral health of 800 recent college graduates and determined that the people that needed to lose weight had more of a chance of developing gum disease and losing their teeth when compared to slimmer people.

The combination of eating fatty, greasy foods and a low rate of fruit/vegetable consumption led to poor oral health. It also led to obesity. If the person was overweight but consumed a reasonable amount of vegetables, gum disease was less likely to be part of the person’s future.

Another problem for people in this age range is that they’re more susceptible to a poor diet. With the lack of home-cooked meals and the greater intake of alcohol than other age groups, a healthy diet is just not realistic for many college students.

That’s why it’s important for young people to be educated about the importance of oral health and the fact that poor oral health can easily lead to poor overall health.

Brushing and Flossing May Have Added Benefits

Written by Dentistry TodayThursday, 29 March 2012 15:26



Brushing and flossing may lead to other things besides good oral health.

There’s research that suggests brushing and flossing can lead to a healthy body and a healthy mind.

It’s proven that by maintaining a daily dental hygiene routine, a person has the ability to fight off serious medical conditions. There are types of bacteria that cause gum disease that have the ability to travel throughout the body via the bloodstream. The chances of heart disease and stroke increase under these circumstances. Poor oral health may also lead to issues for pregnant women before labor and during labor.

By maintaining one’s oral health, these problems are less likely to occur.

Many people don’t heed the advice of their dentists, however. The evidence is supported by the fact that many people only brush once each day and don’t use dental floss. A daily dental hygiene routine can’t be complete without brushing twice. It’s also essential to mix in visits to the dentist.

Patients With Basic Dental Problems Continually Visit ER

Written by Dentistry TodayMonday, 02 April 2012 07:30



There are about 130 million Americans that feel they have no choice.

Without dental insurance, their only chance for dental treatment is to visit the emergency room. This problem continues to worsen.

Based on the current economy, there are also only about 10 percent of dentists in some states, like Illinois, that will take on Medicaid patients. The problem arises when the dental patients visit the emergency room, and at almost 10 times the cost, according to the Pew Center on the States.

Between the years 2006 and 2009, dental-related visits to the emergency room increased by 16 percent.

In Illinois there were nearly 66,000 residents that visited the emergency room in 2009 with some type of dental problem. About half of the problems could have been prevented, according to a division of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

And there are some dental problems that emergency rooms can't adequately treat. Many emergency rooms don't even have a dentist, and the patient ends up having to visit the dentist any way. But without dental insurance, therein lies the problem for the person.

For comparison's sake, in Illinois, an extraction costs the state $57 while it can cost around $400 in the emergency room. Never mind the fact that the actual problem may not even be fixed in the emergency room.

In some states, like Illinois, the problem lies with Medicaid. The overhead costs take out anywhere from 65 to 70 percent of the every dollar and Medicaid reimburses only about 39 percent of the service. Therefore, treating low-income patients doesn't make much fiscal sense for dentists, so they don't take them on.

Dentists Misleading Patients in United Kingdom

Written by Dentistry TodayWednesday, 30 May 2012 07:31



Nearly 500,000 dental patients in the United Kingdom are given incorrect dental information, according to the Office of Fair Trading.

The wrong information was given to convince dental patients to spend money on unnecessary treatment.

According to the findings of the investigation, more than half of the dentists who were seeking to offer this treatment did not display the charges for the treatment at the reception desk. More than 80 percent of patients were not given a written treatment plan.

Despite the few dentists that tried to take advantage of people, most people in the United Kingdom were content with the service their dentist provided, according to the study.

Roughly £6 billion was spent on dental treatment in the United Kingdom from 2009 through 2010. About 42 percent of that treatment was spent on private treatment.

Lack of Dentists a Problem in Rural Areas of California

Written by Dentistry TodayWednesday, 30 May 2012 15:45



Tooth decay rates in many California areas are rising.

The problem can be traced to one main cause: a lack of dentists.

Many of California’s rural counties don’t have nearly as many dentists and specialists as they need. In fact, there is only one dentist for every 4,500 people in the McKinleyville area of Humbolt County. There’s also only one dentist that will accept Medi-Cal (California’s version of Medicaid) for every 71,000 residents in the county.

According to a 2006 survey, in a four-county span in Northern California, more than a quarter of the people below the poverty level hadn’t visited a dentist in at least five years. Rural counties in Northern California also rank highest in the state for the number of emergency department and urgent care visits for preventable dental conditions.

The problem for dentists is the lower reimbursement rates in places outside of urban areas, which gives them less incentive to open a practice in those areas.

There were some program cuts to Medi-Cal three years ago, which exacerbated the problem. Increasing various telehealth programs could be a boost to dentistry and specialty treatment.

Studies also have indicated that education loan repayment programs are enticing enough to get more students interested in dentistry. Without programs like that, the problem will continue in rural areas of California.

Women’s Hormones May be Related to Gum Disease

Written by Dentistry TodayThursday, 31 May 2012 15:00



Women’s health issues and gum disease are associated, according to a new study.

Charlene Krejci, associate clinical professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, concluded the link after a thorough study. The research showed that hormonal changes that happen during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause enable bacteria to grow in the mouth. The bacteria can then make health issues like bone loss worse than they already are.

The article containing the research (“Women’s Health: Periodontitis and its Relation to Hormonal Changes, Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Osteoporosis”) appears in the May issue of Oral Health and Preventive Dentistry.

To compile the research, 61 journal articles and about 100 studies were examined to see what the correlation between female hormones/health issues and gum disease actually was.

The best way to combat this problem is for women to visit the dentist at least once every six months or more frequently in the cases of pregnant women and women that suffer from bone loss. Many pregnant women develop some type of gum problem.

Scaling and planing of the roots of the teeth is now a recommended course of treatment for pregnant women. Severe gum disease that could require surgery does not take place until after the child is born.

Gum disease starts when there’s an influx of bacterial plaque on the teeth and under the gums, and it can result in irritation and inflammation when left untreated.

Marine Bacterial Enzyme May Help Fight Tooth Decay

Written by Dentistry TodayThursday, 05 July 2012 14:15



Seaweed bacterial enzymes could manage to thwart tooth decay.

Scientists at New Castle University in the United Kingdom have isolated an enzyme from the marine bacterium bacillus licheniformis. It has been determined that this seaweed cuts through plaque and cleans the hard-to-reach dental areas.

This bacterial enzyme is generally used to clean the hulls of ships. This information, however, may provide an alternative method for teeth scaling that removes plaque and tartar buildup in the area between the teeth and gumline. Regular brushing can’t always account for this.

While conducting this study, researchers learned that the biofilm created by the bacteria for the adhesion makes it immune to basic oral health treatment. But when the bacterium exits the bacterial colony, it gives off an enzyme that breaks down the external DNA and biofilm. There could soon be various dental products with this enzyme, including toothpaste, mouthwash, and other products.

More research is necessary on this seaweed enzyme. But if it truly does destroy the plaque that contains bacteria, it will soon become widely used.

Study Shows HPV Increases Risk of Periodontitis

Written by Dentistry TodayFriday, 06 July 2012 10:05



Another study indicates that the Human Papilloma Virus increases the risk of developing a form of gum disease, such as periodontitis.

The University of Buffalo study indicated that those infected with HPV tumors showed greater bone loss, something that’s generally associated with periodontitis.

Many other studies have demonstrated the link between poor oral health and the increased risk of cancer. This study pinpoints, the link of HPV and gum disease. Also, periodontitis is now the top cause of tooth loss, even greater than tooth decay.

Bad oral health raises the possibility of developing some type of oral cancer and is a major cause of gum disease.

Many recent studies have shown that the number of HPV-causing cancer cases is going up. The only way to turn back this trend is for people to practice better oral health as a whole.

Diagnosing HPV, gum disease and oral cancer early is one of the main factors in successfully treating the problems. Maintaining solid oral health is the best way to avoid the diseases completely.

UCLA Scientists Make Discovery that May Aid Dentistry

Written by Dentistry TodayMonday, 09 July 2012 15:38



Cancer scientists at the UCLA School of Dentistry have found two epigenetic regulating genes that impact cell-fate determination of human bone marrow stem cells. Translation: dental researchers may be able to dictate stem-to-cell differentiation to the point where bone diseases can be successfully treated.

The possibility of targeting treatments in craniofacial bone regeneration, bone construction, and osteoporosis could be on the horizon.

This information shows the improvement of the way gene structure is understood during epigenetic regulation of stem cell differentiation and how it’s altered without changing the DNA sequence, according to Dr. Cun-Yu Wang. Gene-activating enzymes serve to eliminate methyl markers from histone proteins, which would improve stem-to-bone cell differentiation.

Gene lineage favoring is the science behind this discovery. Genes that favor certain lineages are activated and genes that favor alternate lineages are deactivated. It’s possible for stem cells to differentiate into bone cells. The point of this research is to create the opportunity to possibly treat osteoporosis and gum disease.

The information appears in the most recent issue of Cell Stem Cell, a publication associated with the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

Oral Bacteria May be Sign of Pancreatic Cancer

Written by Dentistry TodayWednesday, 19 September 2012 15:14



An infectious oral bacterium may be a sign for pancreatic cancer.

According to a new study, researchers claim that people who have high levels of antibodies for an infectious oral bacterium ended up having double the risk for developing pancreatic cancer. If a person has high antibody levels for harmless oral bacteria, there’s a reduced risk of cancer.

This study pinpoints the association between antibodies for multiple oral bacteria and the risk of pancreatic cancer.

The study comes from data involving more than 800 Europeans adults. It was published in the journal Gut.

The data explored the fact that higher antibody levels for at least one of the more infectious strains of bacteria meant a two-fold risk for pancreatic cancer. Conversely, there’s a 45 percent lower risk when there are high levels of antibodies for harmless bacteria.

This could be pivotal information, according to one of the paper’s authors, Brown University epidemiologist Dominique Michaud.

Pancreatic cancer causes 40,000 deaths each year in the United States. It’s difficult to detect and kills most patients within six months after diagnosis.

Dental Records Could Enable Early Diagnosis of Osteoporosis

Written by Dentistry TodayMonday, 24 September 2012 15:31



It’s conceivable that osteoporosis may be identified many years before a person displays symptoms.

Dental researchers at the University of Manchester are developing a new technique known as Osteodent. This technique would diagnose osteoporosis before a person ever displayed any symptoms. Some dentists are beginning to use Osteodent to analyze scans and dental records to see if a person is at a higher risk for osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis causes one’s bones to become thinner and weaker. There is no way, as of now, to determine if a person is at higher risk for the disease. The condition is only diagnosed after a person shows symptoms and a bone density test is conducted.

Bone scans on the jaw can pinpoint signs of deterioration in other bone tissues. According to research for this method, bone density in women doesn’t change until a person is 42. There were 5,000 patients studied between the ages of 15 and 94.

Dentists are in a prime position to be at the forefront of this because of all of the jaw x-rays they conduct. If the Osteodent method is as effective as the study indicates, many lives could be saved and the lives of others could be greatly improved.

Soda Ban in New York Should Boost Oral Health

Written by Dentistry TodayTuesday, 25 September 2012 14:17



The state of oral health in New York City may soon be on the rise.

City health officials voted, 8-0, in favor of banning 16-oz soft drinks. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg brought up the legislation earlier this year.

The goal behind this legislation was to lower obesity rates, which have become a major problem in the United States. Without consuming sodas in the same large quantity as in the past, oral health will likely improve. The amount of sugar in soda, especially 16-oz serving sizes, is extremely problematic for one’s dental health.

A standard size soft drink contains 12 teaspoons of sugar on average.

Sugar results in many oral health problems, including gingivitis and decay. Plaque eventually develops from the bacteria, which damages the tooth enamel.

A University of California study has determined that soft drink consumption has continually gotten worse during the last 50 years, which has adversely impacted oral health as a whole. Excessive sugar consumption results on obesity, in addition to various oral health problems.

You can also see this story on this week's The Wednesday Watch.

Study Proves Snuff Users Having Fewer Dental Caries is a Myth

Study Proves Snuff Users Having Fewer Dental Caries is a Myth

Written by Dentistry TodayTuesday, 27 November 2012 12:41

The theory, according to some, was that snuff users were at a lower risk for developing dental caries. But there was never really anything to back that up.

And now a study proves that the notion of snuff users being at a lower risk for dental caries is false. The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden conducted a study that indicated the carbohydrates and starch present in snuff actually increase the risk of developing cavities.

The study also shows that the snuff users weren’t at an increased risk for developing cavities, either. Still, snuff users need to be more careful about their dental health than people who don’t use stuff for all of the obvious reasons. In fact, nicotine-free snuff may be even worse than nicotine-containing snuff because of the increased starch (26 percent) and increased carbohydrates (6.5 percent) in that form.

The results from the study only included information from the snuff products studied. That doesn’t necessarily mean the information about all snuff products is the same.

The study also showed that tobacco use has decreased during the last two decades. Conversely, the number of snuff users has risen during the same time frame.

The study also concluded that single men were more likely to use tobacco than married men. There was no correlation with regards to education level or income.

Saliva Test Capable of Diagnosing Oral Cancer and Diabetes

Saliva Test Capable of Diagnosing Oral Cancer and Diabetes

Written by Dentistry TodayWednesday, 28 November 2012 15:46

A new molecular test has the ability to detect oral cancer and diabetes.

PeriRX, a Pennsylvania start-up company, is conducting clinical trials on this test, which has drawn a large amount of interest.

The test was developed by dentist Neil Gottehrer and David Wong, a leading professor in salivary diagnostics and professor of oral biology at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry.

Wong’s laboratory has been examining salivary diagnostics in regards to other health conditions, including oral cancer, type 2 diabetes, lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. Wong will be heavily involved in the way the product is designed. It will be able to analyze biological markers in saliva.

What separates this test from previous tests that could be considered similar is that there is nothing subjective involved with this one. Also, previous tests haven’t had much of an impact on curbing survival rates of oral cancer.

This test wouldn’t require a complicated testing process. A hygienist or dentist would simply gather a small sample of saliva that would be sent away to be studied. The results would be determined after 48 hours.

Vitamin D May Lower Rate of Tooth Decay

Vitamin D May Lower Rate of Tooth Decay

Written by Dentistry TodayFriday, 30 November 2012 16:23

Vitamin D may benefit dentistry in a major way.

Many recent studies have concluded that vitamin D may be capable of preventing dental caries or tooth decay. Based on 24 clinical trials from the 1920s through the 1980s, 3,000 children were studied in regards to vitamin D and its impact on the teeth. The results from these various studies showed that there was a 50 percent tooth decay reduction from the people who participated in the study.

The information appeared in the December issue of Nutrition Reviews.

The benefits of vitamin D in the area of bone health have never been disputed. Vitamin D’s impact on caries, however, has led to much debate.

The U.S. National Research Council concluded around 1950 that vitamin D aided protection against caries. But around the same time, the American Dental Association disputed this claim. The debate continued into the late 1980s.

Current studies by the Institute of Medicine, the U.S. Department of Human Health and Service and the ADA don’t infer anything about vitamin D and its impact on dental caries.

An ongoing factor lends more credence into the idea that vitamin D lowers the rate of tooth decay: vitamin D levels in many populations are going down while the number of dental caries seen in young children continues to rise. It’s conceivable that this data is purely coincidental.

Despite the years of research on the topic, more is necessary to definitively determine how vitamin D affects a person’s risk of developing tooth decay.