Health Briefs & Articles

Heading Off Oral Cancer - Dr. Allain Offers New Pain-Free ViziLite Plus Exam to Help Detect Oral Cancer

One American dies every hour from oral cancer. It’s actually one of the deadliest forms of cancer when detected at a late stage. The five-year survival rate is only 21% for oral cancer that is detected at its latest stage, but the survival rate soars to 81% when it’s found at an early localized stage. Detecting pre-cancerous conditions could minimize concern. Is there a special technology to make that possible? “Yes,” says a local dentist. More>>

How Safe Are Dental X-Rays?

When x-rays are passed through your mouth, more x-rays are absorbed by the denser parts of your mouth, such as teeth and bone, than by soft tissues. The x-rays strike the film that is behind your tooth, and this creates an image on the film. More>>

Children's oral health - What foods cause tooth decay in children?

Many different types of food can cause tooth decay, not just candy. Foods that are high in carbohydrates, as well as some fruits, liquids, peanut butter, crackers and potato chips are culprits. Factors that cause tooth decay include the frequency in which the foods are eaten and the time they remain as particles in the mouth. More>>

Listerine's Bold, New Claim: Is It True?

Listerine will do way more than just kill your bad breath. Now Pfizer Inc., the maker of Listerine, is touting another, even bigger advantage: Listerine will help give you a healthy mouth and that may lead to a healthy body. The implication is that by preventing gingivitis, you may also prevent the onset of heart disease or diabetes.

Three odd cures for bad breath: When toothpaste and mouthwash don't work, what can you do? Here are some odd--but medically sound--cures for halitosis.

Reuters reports that Pfizer ran full-page advertisements in USA Today and The Washington Post this past week touting the link, citing emerging science to back up the claim. Mind you, there are no scientific studies that actually prove the connection between oral health and overall health, but the new ad campaign attempts to explain the relationship.

Here's a new way to zap bad breath! Find out the odd side effect of dental bleaching.

The newspaper advertisement shows a giant bottle of Listerine draped with a stethoscope. It reads, "If you think it's just for your mouth, think bigger." In January 2005, Pfizer launched an ad campaign saying that using Listerine was just as effective as flossing. A competitor took the company to court, and a judge ruled the ad was misleading. But this time, the marketing team says they did their homework and have the facts correct. "There's an association between the health of the mouth and the health of the body," said Dr. Madeline Monaco, director of oral care professional relations, and a member of Listerine's research and development team. While there have been no cause-and-effect studies to prove it, there is an association between advanced gum disease and the onset of heart disease and diabetes. Even the American Dental Association has given the Listerine campaign its seal of acceptance.

What causes morning breath? Find out the answers to five questions you would only ask a doctor after a good, stiff drink.

A New Way to Zap Bad Breath

There's an odd side effect to dental bleaching: One of the chemicals used to make your teeth white also zaps bad breath.

While over-the-counter bleaching products for teeth are relatively new, dentists have been bleaching their patients' teeth for years. And they noticed something strange. For those patients who also suffer from chronic bad breath, the tooth bleaching process not only whitened their teeth, but also made their halitosis disappear.

It turns out the magic ingredient is carbamide peroxide, an odorless chemical used to bleach and disinfect teeth. After 10 years and 40,000 patients, Cleveland dentist Louis J. Malcmacher has now figured out the perfect dose of carbamide peroxide to destroy the sulfur compounds and Gram-negative bacteria that cause bad breath. The procedure works like tooth whitening using a customized mouth tray or mouth guard that fits snugly around the patient's teeth. Instead of the 10 percent solution of carbamide peroxide used for whitening, a 3 percent solution is used. The trays stay in the patient's mouth for an hour; the process is repeated two more times before a patient typically notices a difference in his or her breath, according to Malcmacher.

How much does it cost? More than 25 percent of the U.S. population has chronic halitosis--breath that is so sour that tooth-brushing and mouthwash only mask the problem. It can also be an indication of more serious health concerns. This new treatment, which goes to the heart of the problem, costs about $500 for one in-office treatment and a four to six-week supply for home use. Malcmacher says there are no side effects.

How long do you have to keep using it? That depends on the severity of the halitosis. Patients with the most acute problem must use it daily for a while and then eventually move to once every few months. Others just have to use it for the initial three-step treatment for long-term (but not indefinite) results.

Bad breath primarily originates from the gums and tongue. However, odor coming from the back of the tongue may indicate post-nasal drip. Bad breath also may occur in people who have an infection, gum disease, diabetes, kidney failure or a liver malfunction. Xerostomia (dry mouth) and tobacco also contribute to this problem. Cancer patients who undergo radiation therapy may experience dry mouth. Even stress, dieting, snoring, aging and hormonal changes can have an effect on breath.

As of right now, this new cure for bad breath has not been widely marketed and there is no patent on the procedure. The study findings were presented to a meeting of the Academy of General Dentistry in Washington, D.C.

3 Odd Cures For Bad Breath

When toothpaste and mouthwash don't work, what can you do to quell your bad breath? Here are three odd--but medically sound--cures for halitosis.

Cure No. 1: Take zinc
HealthDayNews reports that research published in the French journal Revue De Stomatologie Et De Chirurgie Maxillo-Faciale concludes that the main cause of chronic bad breath is a group of compounds that contain sulfur. The sulfur-producing bacteria gather on the back of the tongue and on the teeth. (Mind you, chronic bad breath is caused by more than just eating onions for lunch.) Zinc apparently makes your breath smell better because it binds to the sulfur. So look for mouthwashes, gum, toothpaste, and even cold lozenges that contain zinc to zap that bad breath.

Cure No. 2: Get the right toothpaste
The best toothpaste for sweet breath is one with stannous fluoride, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Dentistry. Every toothpaste promotes itself as a cavity-fighter and breath-freshener. But when it comes to that sweet extra something for your breath, which one does the best job?

When researchers compared three types of toothpaste--one with stannous fluoride, an anti-tartar, and an anti-microbial--among three groups of people and gave a fourth group bottled water to act as a control, they found that the toothpaste that contained 0.45 percent stannous fluoride actually produced better breath, reports HealthDayNews.

Cure No. 3: Zap it with a laser
An Israeli scientist has developed a 15-minute laser treatment that has worked successfully in 53 patients whose bad breath emanates from their tonsils. According to New Scientist magazine, the laser treatment developed by Yehuda Finkelstein of Meir Hospital at the Sapir Medical Centre in Kfar Saba, Israel is used for a rare type of halitosis that wafts relentlessly from the tonsils.

For most of us, bad breath is caused by the build-up of bacteria around the gums and teeth; those bacteria then release foul-smelling gases. But for about 6 percent of people who suffer from bad breath, the bacteria breed in grooves in their tonsils. The laser treatment zaps the infected tonsil tissue and creates a scar that seals the grooves so bacteria cannot grow back. Of the 53 patients who have received this treatment, more than half were cured after just one treatment. The others required two or three more sessions--but all were cured.

How Your Dentist Can Save Your Life
The dentist may be the most important doctor you see this year.
By Dan Ferber
From Reader's Digest, December 2005

What Most People Don't Know

"Ken Michener's tooth had been hurting off and on for months, and the pain was intense one Monday night in August. So Michener, 31, of Naperville, Illinois, who worked night shifts at a company that manufactures vitamins and dietary supplements, left at 3 a.m., halfway through his shift. At home, he tossed and turned. By the next afternoon, he'd found an oral surgeon to pull his sore molar, and started taking antibiotics to beat the bacterial infection and reduce the swelling. They did neither. By Friday, Michener was still hurting, and his left cheek bulged. At a local hospital, his oral surgeon removed another tooth, drained some pus, gave him painkillers and more antibiotics, and checked him into intensive care." Full Story (Acrobat PDF)

AGD Impact, August/September 2003
www.agd.org

Nuke Your Dentures

A two-minute microwave treatment combined with soaking is much more effective at eliminating germs on dentures than just brushing, according to a March/April article in General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed journal of the Academy of General Dentistry. Capitalizing on widespread media attention to the article, the Academy urged denture wearers to follow a simple microwave denture cleaning regimen: Put dentures that have no metal components in a microwave container at least twice as tall as the dentures, with vents in the cover; fill the container with water and put a tablet of the denture cleanser in the water; cover with a towel and microwave for a bout two minutes. Allow dentures to cool and then rinse before using them.

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