The AFternoon Drill: April 17, 2012

Good Tuesday afternoon!

On to today's dentistry headlines:

Federal judge dismisses California fluoridation lawsuit

federal judge has ruled that a Southern California water district can legally add hydrofluosilicic acid to public drinking water even though it has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of disease or dental caries.

In a ruling issued April 10, Janis Sammartino of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California granted the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California's motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to stop the water district from adding non-FDA-approved drugs to public drinking water.

The 2011 lawsuit, filed by four Southern California residents "on behalf of themselves and the general public," alleged that MWD was engaging in "the unlawful and unconstitutional medication" of the plaintiffs.

ADA releases statement on dental X-rays study

A study published online April 10 associating dental radiographs with brain tumors has stirred media attention and questions from experts on the study’s methodology.

The study published in Cancer, an American Cancer Society peer-reviewed journal, found that people with meningiomas (typically, benign brain tumors) are more likely to report that they’ve had certain dental X-ray examinations in their lifetimes.

In a press statement following publication of the study online by Cancer, the ADA referred to their recommendations for prescribing radiographs, which help dentists determine how to keep radiation exposure as low as reasonably achievable.

“The ADA has reviewed the study and notes that the results rely on the individuals’ memories of having dental X-rays taken years earlier,” says the April 10 statement. “Studies have shown that the ability to recall information is often imperfect. Therefore, the results of studies that use this design can be unreliable because they are affected by what scientists call ‘recall bias.’ ”

The ADA released its statement in tandem with the lifting of the press embargo on the study. U.S. News and World Report and MSNBC interviewed Dr. Matthew Messina, a practicing dentist in Ohio and ADA media spokesperson. Several other media outlets cited the ADA’s recommendations on dental X-rays.

Eco-Dentistry Association To Host 2012 Earth Day Tweetchat : “Ask a Green Dentist”

This Earth Day, the Eco-Dentistry Association will host its first tweetchat for dental industry professionals and consumers worldwide to discuss the essentials of a high-tech, wellness based, and successful green dental practice. The tweetchat will provide an opportunity for the EDA’s GreenDOC™ Certified offices to share advice and expertise related to creating and operating eco-friendly dental offices. Everyone interested in the green transformation of dentistry is invited to participate in the discussion, which will take place on Friday, April 20, 2012 from 10-11:00 AM PST and which will use the hashtag “#ecodentistry” to facilitate the conversation.

The tweetchat will be moderated by the EDA team and hosted by the EDA’s GreenDOC™ Certified offices; the GreenDOC™ program allows practices to earn points for the green initiatives they have implemented in the areas listed below, and based upon the number of points garnered, awards either Gold, Silver or Bronze certification:


• Sustainable Location
• Waste Reduction
• Pollution Prevention
• Energy Conservation
• Water Conservation
• Patient Care, Workplace Policies & Community Contribution
• Leadership
• Innovation

The Trouble with Teething:

Enjoy your afternoon!

The Afternoon Drill: April 5, 2012

Wendy Houvenaghel, Dentist

Good Thursday afternoon!

On to today's dentistry and health headlines:

Northern Ireland Dentist goes for Gold in London 2012 Olympics

A Northern Ireland dentist is set to go for gold in the 2012 London Olympics.

Wendy Houvenaghel, 37, will be competing in the 3km individual pursuit cycling event and isn’t a stranger to awards, after winning silver in Beijing, coming second to her British team-mate Rebecca Romero.

For the time being she has set down her dentistry tools and says she will be completely focused on the event for the upcoming month, especially as she is aiming for gold this time round. “I’m totally committed to attempt to win the gold medal with my team-mates in August.”

Wendy, who also held a career as a Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant, plans to continue with her dental work after the games are over, saying “There’s a lot I need to think about in the future, but at the moment I can only think about the next few weeks and months and the Olympic Games. I’d imagine at some point in time I’ll pick up my dentist drill again and resume that career.”

Nevada working to curb backroom doctors, dentists

When their patient became ill from a buttocks enhancement injection, unlicensed caregivers Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas and his wife, Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, fled to McCarran International Airport. They were arrested trying to board a flight home to Colombia.

The 42-year-old mother of three they were treating in the back room of a Las Vegas tile store died.

Shortly after Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez were sent to state prison, a complaint about cars blocking a driveway led police to find people dressed in surgical scrubs inside a southwest Las Vegas home. Prosecutors say a New York woman was performing eyelift surgeries in the living room. Patients with bandaged faces were taken to a hospital. The woman, 55, was taken to jail.

She told officers she had been a doctor in China. Authorities say she's not licensed in Nevada.

In Reno, a person hospitalized with life-threatening complications from a botched dental procedure told police about a man practicing dentistry in a nondescript mobile home. The man, 56, claimed he was a dental assistant in another country, police said. But he also had prior convictions locally for practicing dentistry without a license.

"We suspected this was going on," said Reno police Lt. Mohammed Rafaqat several days after the March arrest of the fake dentist, "but as we dug into it we found it was more common.

"No insurance. No money. People want to get treated," Rafaqat said. "This is what happens."

Green tea could cloud Olympic doping tests

Olympic doping officials are considering whether to tweak their tests after a recent British study showed green tea might hide testosterone from the standard test used to spot it.

The study was a test in a lab dish so scientists aren't sure if the effects will be the same in people. But some experts say the results are intriguing enough that Olympic testing could be updated to include that possibility.

"It's interesting that something as common as tea could have a significant influence on the steroid profile," said Olivier Rabin, scientific director of the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA. He said other foods and beverages, such as alcohol, are also known to muddle test results.

"We may need to adjust our steroid (test) to allow us to exclude whether a test is modified by food or training or disease, before we can say that it's doping," Rabin said. He said they might have to raise their normal threshold for what is a considered a legal amount of testosterone to allow for any such interference.

"There's no reason to think we just happened to pick the only food in the world that does this," said Declan Naughton of Kingston University, who published the green tea research with colleagues in the journal, Steroids.

Naughton said the green tea contains catechins, also found in white tea, which seem to stop an enzyme involved in detecting testosterone. By preventing that enzyme from working, testosterone largely goes unnoticed in the body and doesn't get passed into the urine — where officials usually test for the hormone.

Charles Yesalis, a doping expert at Pennsylvania State University, said officials needed to react quickly.

"Athletes will not wait for the clinical trials," he said. "I'll bet there are already lots of athletes out there drinking loads of green tea," he added.

Washington has whooping cough 'epidemic'

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, has reached "epidemic levels" in the state of Washington, health officials say.

As of March 31, the state had 640 cases compared to 94 cases at the same time last year. This could put Washington “on-pace to have the highest number of reported cases in decades,” according to the health department's press release.

There have not been any reported  deaths, said a spokesman for the health department. The state had two whooping cough deaths in 2010 and two in 2011.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease caused by bacteria that can lead to severe upper respiratory infections. The bacteria spread in tiny droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Symptoms can resemble a cold at first, but as the disease persists, it may cause severe coughing attacks that end with a high-pitched whooping sound.

The disease is preventable through a vaccine, which is given to children through a series of five injections from 2 months to 4 or 6 years of age. Whooping cough is most serious in infants, especially when they’re too young to get vaccinated or aren’t fully protected yet.

Enjoy your afternoon!

The Afternoon Drill: March 29, 2012

Young boy with autism

Good afternoon!

On to today's dentistry and health headlines:

New high in U.S. autism rates inspires renewed debate

About one in 88 children in the United States has autism or a related disorder, the highest estimate to date and one that is sure to revive a national argument over how the condition is diagnosed and treated.

The estimate released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention represents an overall increase of about 25 percent since the last analysis in 2006 and a near-doubling of the rate reported in 2002.

Among boys, the rate of autism spectrum disorders is one in 54, almost five times that of girls, in whom the rate is one in 252.

"One thing the data tells us with certainty - there are many children and families who need help," CDC Director Thomas Frieden said at a press conference.

The reported spike in the prevalence of autism and related disorders raised questions about whether it is real or an artifact of greater awareness that has led parents, teachers, and even health-care providers to see symptoms of autism in children who would not have received the diagnosis a generation ago.

If it is real, that suggests that some change in the environment might be responsible. In recent years suspicion has focused on everything from mercury, a known neurotoxin, in air and food, to the increasing age of new mothers and fathers.

There is a good possibility that much of the reported increase in the prevalence of autism is illusory, however. When asked about this during the news conference, CDC's Frieden pointed out that "doctors have gotten better at diagnosing the condition and communities have gotten better at providing services, so I think we can say it is possible that the increase is the result of better detection."

Dental board director departs before state hearing

Sherri Meek, executive director of the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners since 2007, resigned earlier this month and will not be present at an April legislative hearing where board critics plan to testify.

Meek, who cited personal reasons for her resignation, is using up personal leave time before her resignation takes effect Aug. 31, said the board's general counsel, Joy Sparks.

Glenn Parker, former executive director of the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners, has been the agency's director of administration for the past several months and has taken over as acting executive director with a salary of $75,000, a $5,000 increase to cover his additional duties, according to a March 12 letter Meek wrote to Parker.

Parker will be at the House Public Health Committee hearing at 10:30 a.m. April 11 in the Capitol Annex, E2.012. It is open to the public.

The committee will hear public testimony about various state health registries and concerns about the dental board, including its enforcement practices and a law that allows board members to act as expert witnesses in cases involving dentists, as long as the board does not object.

"No board member has ever asked for permission to serve as an expert," Sparks said, adding that she "would have absolutely no problem" with a law banning it.

Members of the Houston-based Texans for Dental Reform said they plan to speak at the hearing and voice concerns about what they called uneven and discriminatory enforcement of the dental practice laws, "overemphasis on protection of dentists" and conflicts of interest.

More Dentist Anesthesiologists Are Needed in the Pediatric Setting

The demand for dentist anesthesiologists in pediatric dental practices is on the rise. More than 70 percent of board-certified pediatric dentists in the United States provide mild to moderate sedation in their practices. Nearly that many, 60 to 70 percent, would use a dentist anesthesiologist if one were available. However, supply cannot yet meet the demand.

The current issue of the journal Anesthesia Progress reports on two congruent surveys, one of board-certified pediatric dentists and one of directors of pediatric dentistry and dental anesthesiology training programs. These surveys explore models of office-based dental sedation and future needs for deep sedation and general anesthesia services in pediatric dentistry.

As much as 12.3 percent of the general U.S. population has been reported to experience dental fear and anxiety. Among junior high and secondary school students, about 18 percent reported moderate dental fear. This is one of the reasons behind the increased need for sedation in dental practices.

Extensive treatment needs, anxiety, uncooperative but age-appropriate behavior, and limited cognitive functioning are among causes that require deep sedation or general anesthesia for young dental patients. Two-thirds of pediatric dentistry residency directors anticipate this need for dental anesthesiology services to increase in coming years. Among dental anesthesiology program directors, 88 percent report increased requests for anesthesiology services by pediatric dentists over the past 10 years.

Half of all cancers are preventable: study

Half of all cancers could be prevented if people just adopted healthier behaviors, US scientists argued on Wednesday.

Smoking is blamed for a third of all US cancer cases and being overweight leads to another 20 percent of the deadly burden that costs the United States some $226 billion per year in health care expenses and lost productivity.

For instance, up to three quarters of US lung cancer cases could be avoided if people did not smoke, said the article in the US journal Science Translational Medicine.

Science has shown that plenty of other cancers can also be prevented, either with vaccines to prevent human papillomavirus and hepatitis, which can cause cervical and liver cancers, or by protecting against sun exposure, which can cause skin cancer.

Society as a whole must recognize the need for these changes and take seriously an attempt to instill healthier habits, said the researchers.

Enjoy your afternoon!

The Afternoon Drill: February 10, 2012

Good afternoon!

On to today's dentistry and health headlines:

FDA probes illegal sale of handheld dental x-ray units

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning dental and veterinary professionals not to purchase or use certain potentially unsafe handheld dental x-ray units that are sold online by manufacturers outside the U.S. and directly shipped to U.S. customers.

The FDA is concerned that these devices may not be safe or effective and could expose users and patients to unnecessary and potentially harmful x-rays. The units have not been reviewed by the FDA and do not meet FDA radiation safety requirements, the agency noted in a press release issued February 10.

The Washington State Department of Health alerted the FDA after tests on a device purchased online revealed it did not comply with x-ray performance standards.

As a result, the FDA is investigating the extent of the problem and is notifying state regulatory authorities, dental professional organizations, and other health organizations about the safety risks. To date, no adverse events have been reported.

A handheld dental x-ray unit is a small, portable device that is intended for dental x-ray examinations. Use of these devices requires a prescription from a licensed practitioner, the FDA noted.

All units that have been cleared by the FDA bear a permanent certification label/tag, a warning label, and an identification (ID) label/tag on the unit.

The certification label should state "This product complies with 21 CFR 1020.30 - 1020.31," "This product complies with 21 CFR Subchapter J," or other similar language.

'Meth mouth' being seen more by local dentists

Oswego County has been the location of several meth lab busts, including a mobile lab seized in parking lot of Lowe’s Plaza, meth lab found in a Town of Williamstown, and two accused of making meth in Mexico.

Another sign of the growing meth problem in Oswego County is being noticed by local dentists.

General Dentistry's, Dr. Robert Schaefer, told News Channel 9 that he’s seeing more and more cases of a condition known as "meth mouth."

Schaefer said, “The cavities that occur with the use of methamphetamine usually develop on the front surfaces of the teeth. The decay from methamphetamine is very, very obvious. It's very different from other types of oral conditions.”

The American Dental Association's website says that dental health care professionals should be aware that methamphetamine use is widespread in the U.S. because it's cheap, easy to make and the high lasts much longer than crack cocaine. Meth is a potent central nervous system stimulant that can cause shortness of breath, hyperthermia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, irregular heart beat, high blood pressure, permanent brain damage and rampant tooth decay. Users describe their teeth as "blackened, stained, rotting, crumbling or falling apart." Teeth often cannot be salvaged and must be extracted.

New Attack on Alzheimer's: Cancer Drug Reverses Disease's Symptoms in Mice; Human Tests to Start Soon

A cancer drug quickly and dramatically improved brain function and social ability and restored the sense of smell in mice bred with a form of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting a new way to tackle the illness in people.

Alzheimer's is associated with the accumulation of protein fragments called amyloid-beta in the brain. The new research found that an existing skin-cancer drug called bexarotene cleared the protein in the brains of stricken mice within days. The study was published Thursday in the journal Science.

Because bexarotene is known to be safe for treating skin cancer, "it might be worth trying in Alzheimer's patients as well," said Rada Koldamova, a neuroscientist who works on Alzheimer's at the University of Pittsburgh and wasn't involved in the study. However, she added, the drug's effectiveness against the brain malady would first have to be established in human trials. Test results in mice often don't pan out in humans.

Everyone's brain produces amyloid-beta protein, but while a healthy brain can efficiently remove the protein fragments, the brain of a person with Alzheimer's can't. The resulting buildup is believed to result in impaired learning and memory functions.

The disease is a growing problem, especially in aging societies, but no effective treatment has been found. The drugs used today work just for a short time and only relieve symptoms, instead of halting the disease. Over the years, drugs in about a half-dozen late-stage human trials have failed to make the cut.

Enjoy your afternoon!

The Afternoon Drill: December 19, 2011

Venice Beach, California

Good afternoon.

I had some errands to run this morning, including some last minute Christmas mailings, so the Morning Drill is now in the afternoon.

On to today's dentistry and health headlines:

Maine dental board votes to restrict IPDHs in pilot project

Despite opposition from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the governor of Maine, the Maine Board of Dental Examiners voted today to restrict what x-rays independent practice dental hygienists (IPDHs) can take during an upcoming pilot project.

In June 2011, Maine passed LD 230, directing the board to implement a two-year pilot project that expands the scope of practice of IPDHs to allow them to take x-rays in underserved areas without the presence of a dentist. The board was also directed to develop rules for the pilot project.

As written, the board's proposed rules allow IPDHs to take only bitewing and periapical x-rays without a dentist present and prohibit them from taking other types of x-rays.

Last month the FTC told the board that the proposed rules were too restrictive and could undermine the project's purpose.

Supreme Court sets Obama healthcare arguments

Oral arguments on President Barack Obama's sweeping U.S. healthcare overhaul will last 5-1/2 hours spread over three days from March 26-28, the Supreme Court said on Monday.

The Supreme Court last month agreed to hear the 5-1/2 hours of oral arguments, one of the lengthiest arguments in recent years. There have been similar marathon sessions in a handful of big cases dating back over the past 70 years.

New head for Ohio VA center that had dental issues

The new director of a southwest Ohio VA medical center that was rocked earlier this year by dental-clinic hygiene problems said Monday he plans more community outreach to build confidence and attract more veterans to its services.

Glenn Costie, the director at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo., the last two-plus years, took over Monday at the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which serves some 37,000 veterans. In a message to his new staff, he said he wants an environment that is "patient-centric, strives for perfection and is innovative."

He replaces William Montague, the former Cleveland VA director called out of retirement in March to serve as acting director in Dayton. The previous director was reassigned after an investigation found a clinic dentist wasn't regularly changing latex gloves or properly sterilizing equipment.

Some 535 veterans who had undergone invasive procedures in the clinic had their blood tested as a result. Hospital officials said three of the patients tested positive for hepatitis, which can cause liver damage, but they weren't certain how they contracted it.

Costie said he wants to make sure the region's veterans know they are can get high-quality, safe health care at the center. He will focus on "building trust with the community," he told The Associated Press.

Posting Calorie Information On Sugary Drinks Curbs Sales Among Teens

During our daily subway commute to and from Health Blog HQ, we’ve noticed  posters telling us exactly how far we’d have to walk to work off various sugar-sweetened drinks.

Now a study just published online by the American Journal of Public Health makes us think that the NYC Department of Public Health, which is behind the posters, may be on to something.

Researchers wanted to know what would happen to sales of sugary drinks including soda, sport drinks and fruit drinks if they posted calorie information about those drinks on beverage cases at corner stores in Baltimore. They were also curious about whether the way that calorie information was presented would make a difference.

So they rotated three different signs through four different corner stores. One sign pointed out that a bottle of soda or fruit juice has about 250 calories. Another pointed out that such a drink has about 10% of a person’s daily calories. And another pointed out that working off a bottle of soda or fruit juice takes about 50 minutes of running.

The researchers collected data for about 1,600 beverage purchases by black teens — who are more likely to drink sugary beverages and to be obese — across the different information strategies and, for comparison, a baseline period.

Giving any type of calorie information lowered the likelihood of a sugary-drink purchase by about 40% compared to no signs at all, says Sara Bleich, an author of the study and an assistant professor of health policy at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study also found that giving information about the physical activity equivalent lowered the likelihood of a sugary-drink purchase by about 50%.

Enjoy your afternoon and evening!

The Afternoon Drill: July 18, 2011

A collection of dentistry and health related links/comments for your day.

Print Your Own Teeth: Rapid Prototyping Comes to Dentistry

What if, instead of waiting days or weeks for a cast to be produced and prosthetic dental implants, false teeth and replacement crowns to be made, your dentist could quickly scan your jaw and "print" your new teeth using a rapid prototyping machine known as a 3D printer?

Researchers in Iran explain how medical imaging coupled with computer-aided design could be used to create a perfect-fit blueprint for prosthetic dentistry, whether to replace diseased or broken teeth and jaw bone. The blueprint can then be fed into a so-called 3D printer to build up an exact replica using a biocompatible composite material. Such technology has been used in medical prosthetics before, but this is an early step into prosthetic dentistry using rapid prototyping.

Writing in the International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, mechanical engineer Hossein Kheirollahi of the Imam Hossein University and colleague Farid Abbaszadeh of the Islamic Azad University, in Tehran, Iran, explain how current technology used to convert an MRI or CT scan into a prosthetic component requires milling technology. This carves out the appropriate solid shape from a block of polymer but has several disadvantages, uppermost being that it is very difficult to carve out a complex shape, such as a tooth. By contrast, rapid prototyping uses a 3D image held in a computer to control a laser that then "cures" powdered or liquid polymer. Almost any solid, porous, or complicated shape can be produced by this 3D-printing technology.

Injectable Polymer Gel Mimics Properties of Human Vocal Cords

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said that “The human voice is the organ of the soul”. That could explain why we’re always saddened to hear when prominent speakers, such as singer Julie Andrews or film critic Roger Ebert, lose their well-heard voices due to a disease or injury. It’s estimated that 6 percent of the U.S. population has some kind of voice disorder, often due to scarring or straining from disease or overuse.

At Harvard and MIT, researchers have been developing a new type of synthetic polymer that mimics the viscoelastic properties of human vocal cords. The polymer, PEG30, which is a modified form of polyethylene glycol (PEG), was shown to vibrate with a similar frequency to human vocal cords when air was blown through a vocal-fold model made of the polymer. Moreover, the polymer was shown to restore vibration to vocal folds that have become stiff and unable to vibrate due to scarring.

PEG has been shown to be safe in many FDA-approved drugs and medical devices, so researchers are hoping to use the modified polymer as an “injectable device” that is applied directly into the vocal folds every six months.

Pediatrician feels heat over child obesity idea

Boston pediatrician David Ludwig, the center of a media firestorm this week, wants to set the record straight on his view that a state should intervene in the most extreme cases of child obesity.

Ludwig and co-author Lindsey Murtagh at the Harvard School of Public Health triggered a backlash with an opinion piece in a leading U.S. medical journal about what could be done about highly overweight youngsters.

They argued that when all other efforts failed, a state should consider putting high-risk obese kids in foster care, and said doing so may be the more ethical choice that could avert drastic measures like weight-loss surgery.

Ludwig, of Boston's Children's Hospital, has since responded to dozens of e-mails this week from angry and terrified parents. Other medical experts have questioned the rationale of removing a child from an otherwise functional and supportive family if they are obese.

Falls Could Signal Early Alzheimer's Disease

Compared with older people with no signs of Alzheimer's, those whose brains show early signs of the disease are twice as likely to experience a fall, researchers have found.

In the new study, investigators looked at brain scans of 125 older adults who were participating in a study of memory and aging. The seniors were also asked to keep track of how many times they fell over the course of eight months.

An increased risk of falls was noted among individuals whose scans showed early signs of Alzheimer's. The study authors suggested that falls could indicate the need for an evaluation for the memory-robbing disease.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify a risk of increased falls related to a diagnosis of preclinical Alzheimer's disease," study author Susan Stark, an assistant professor of occupational therapy and neurology at Washington University in St. Louis, said in a news release from the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.

"This finding is consistent with previous studies of mobility problems among persons with very early symptomatic Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment. It suggests that higher rates of falls can occur very early in the disease process," Stark added.

The study, which was slated for presentation Sunday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Paris, found that of the 125 adults studied, 48 people experienced at least one fall.

The brain scans of the participants showed that higher levels of an imaging agent that binds to the abnormal protein growth that is a signature of Alzheimer's disease, was associated with a 2.7 times higher risk of a fall for each unit of increase on the scan.

Enjoy your day!

The Afternoon Drill: July 13, 2011

A collection of dentistry and health related links/comments for your day.

Chain restaurants will make kids menus healthier

Parents seeking healthier restaurant meals for their kids can start to look beyond chicken nuggets and macaroni-and-cheese.

At least 19 restaurant chains — including Burger King, Chili's, IHOP and Friendly's — said Wednesday that they will include healthier options on their children's menus. At least 15,000 restaurant locations will focus on increasing servings of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains and low-fat dairy. The items will have less fats, sugars and sodium.

Less healthy foods like burgers and fries will still be on the menu, but the restaurants say they will do more to promote healthier options. Chili's, for example, will highlight a chicken sandwich with a side of pineapple or mandarin oranges on their kids' menu. Burger King has recently reformulated children's chicken nuggets so they include less sodium, and employees taking orders will ask if customers want healthier apple fries instead of just the standard "fries with that?"

The effort is part of a new National Restaurant Association initiative to give kids more healthy options at restaurants and to make it easier for parents to find those options. Some of the items are already on menus, but restaurants will advertise them more prominently and flag the healthier menu items to make ordering easier.

To be part of the program, restaurants must include at least one kids' menu item that is 600 calories or less and meets other nutritional requirements. A side dish worth less than 200 calories must also be included.

"This could provide a great push toward healthier offerings at restaurants," said Robert Post, the Agriculture Department official in charge of developing the department's dietary guidelines, which came out earlier this year. Those urged Americans to eat less salt.

"We hope this is a trend toward new items and voluntary reformulations," Post said.
Chain restaurants large and small signing up for the initiative are Au Bon Pain, Bonefish Grill, Burger King, Burgerville, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Chevys, Chili's, Corner Bakery Cafe, Cracker Barrel, Denny's, El Pollo Loco, Friendly's, IHOP, Joe's Crab Shack, Outback Steakhouse, Silver Diner, Sizzler, T-Bones Great American Eatery and zpizza.

Hot Tea and Coffee May Lower MRSA Risk

New research shows that people who drink hot tea or coffee are about half as likely to have methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in their nasal passages as those who abstain, raising the prospect of a safe, inexpensive, and easily accessible way to decrease MRSA.

"In an effort to both prevent and treat MRSA, researchers have examined the antimicrobial effects of several commonly consumed plants and plant extracts," write the authors, led by Eric M. Matheson, MD, from the Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston. "What remains unclear is whether tea and coffee have systemic antimicrobial activity when consumed orally as beverages."

The study was published in the July/August issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

Higher U.S. Medicaid Payments to Dentists Associated With Increased Rate of Dental Care Among Children

Children and adolescents from states that had higher Medicaid payment levels to dentists between 2000 and 2008 were more likely to receive dental care, although children covered by Medicaid received dental care less often than children with private insurance, according to a study in the July 13 issue of JAMA.

According to background information in the article, more than one-third of children are covered by public health insurance, primarily Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Coverage of dental care for children and adolescents covered by Medicaid and CHIP is required, although states have wide latitude in setting payment rates for providers including dentists, with these rates varying greatly by state. Medicaid recipients may not be able to access dental care if dentists decline to participate in Medicaid because of low payment levels or other reasons. Little is known about the effect of state dental fees on participation of dentists in the Medicaid program.

Sandra L. Decker, Ph.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, Md., conducted a study to examine the association of state Medicaid payment rates for dental care with the receipt of dental care among children covered by Medicaid. The study included data on Medicaid dental fees in 2000 and 2008 for 42 states plus the District of Columbia, and these data were merged with data from 33,657 children and adolescents (ages 2-17 years) in the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for the years 2000-2001 and 2008-2009.

Of the 42 states plus the District of Columbia considered in the analyses, the 2008 Medicaid dental fees were lower than the (inflation-adjusted) 2000 fees in 23 states. Payment levels to dentists in 2008 were higher than in 2000 in 19 states plus the District of Columbia. In five states (Connecticut, Indiana, Montana, New York, and Texas) plus the District of Columbia, payments increased by at least 50 percent between 2000 and 2008.

The researchers found that the probability that a child or adolescent had seen a dentist in the past 6 months varied by insurance source. In 2008-2009, children and adolescents covered by Medicaid were less likely (55 percent) than children with private insurance (68 percent) to have seen a dentist in the past 6 months, but were more likely to have seen a dentist than children or adolescents without insurance (27 percent). According to the author's, "children were about 6 percentage points more likely to have seen a dentist in 2008-2009 than in 2000-2001. … Those covered by Medicaid or CHIP were about 13 percentage points and uninsured children were about 40 percentage points less likely than children with private insurance to have seen a dentist."

Two Bay Area dentists came to the rescue of a gorilla with a toothache on Monday, San Francisco Zoo officials said.

Enjoy your day!

The Afternoon Drill: July 12, 2011

A collection of dentistry and health related links/comments for your day.

Is Mom’s Cigarette Use a Smoking Gun for Birth Defects?

Smoking during pregnancy isn’t good for a number of reasons: It’s linked to a greater risk of miscarriage, small babies and premature birth.

Now you can add to that list a greater risk of birth defects, according to a new study in the journal Human Reproduction Update.

There has long been speculation that maternal smoking might be tied to birth defects, but previous studies weren’t large enough to conclusively show that there was a relationship, according to Allan Hackshaw, an author of the study and deputy director of Cancer Research U.K. & University College London Cancer Trials Center.

To investigate the link with greater certainty, Hackshaw and his colleagues decided to look at accumulated data from 50 years of published research. Their data showed that babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy had a 25% to 30% increased risk of birth defects — including clubfoot, facial clefts and hernias –  compared to babies whose mothers didn’t smoke.

The increased risk of  is similar in magnitude to increased risk of developing lung cancer due to second-hand smoke, according to Hackshaw, though the overall risk of having a baby with a birth defect is low.

“With regards to the low absolute risk in pregnancy, one could argue: Why take the chance over something as important as a pregnancy?” Hackshaw tells the Health Blog via email.

Experts grow whole tooth units using mouse stem cells

Scientists in Japan said on Wednesday they have created teeth -- complete with connective fibers and bones -- by using mouse stem cells and successfully transplanted them into mice, a step they hope will lead to progress in stem cell research.

The entire tooth units, which were inserted into lower jaws of mice, attached successfully with jaw bones and the rats were able to chew normally, the researchers wrote in a paper in PLoS One (Public Library of Science).

"The bioengineered teeth were fully functional ... there was no trouble (with) biting and eating food after transplantation," wrote Masamitsu Oshima, assistant professor at the Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science.

The researchers hope this is a step to help the development of new human organs grown from a patient's own cells.

High salt + low potassium = early death: study

Put down the salt shakers. Eating too much salt and too little potassium can increase the risk of death, U.S. government researchers said on Monday.

The findings from a team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a counterpoint to a fiercely-debated study released last week that found no evidence that making small cuts in salt intake lowers the risk of heart disease and premature death.

"Salt is still bad for you," said Dr. Thomas Farley, Health Commissioner for New York City, which is leading a campaign to reduce salt in restaurant and packaged foods by 25 percent over five years.

Most health experts agree with Farley that consuming too much salt is not good for you and that cutting salt intake can reduce high blood pressure, which raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. Salt intake has been rising since the 1970s, with Americans consuming about twice the recommended daily limit.

Mobile Dental Websites

Moms with kids spend, on average, 6.1 hours per day seeking information online using their smartphones.

With that in mind grab your smart phone and look up your practice:

Was it easy to find your practice? That is do you show up on maps or search or can the prospective patient only find you by typing in a specific URL?

Prospective patients are looking for specific information in order to make a decision about your practice:

•     Doctor details
•     Staff Profiles
•     Phone link
•     Location and directions

Enjoy your day!

The Afternoon Drill: July 11, 2011

A collection of dentistry and health related links/comments for your day.

Shortage of Physicians, APNs, PAs Predicted for 2025

Advanced practice nurses (APNs) and physician assistants (PAs) are frequently touted as the solution to the physician shortage, but there will not be enough of all 3 professionals combined to meet the nation's healthcare needs in 2025, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Lead author Michael Sargen, a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and coauthors write that although the United States needs to expand the workforce of these 3 types of "advanced clinicians," healthcare personnel with less training must assume more patient care responsibilities, especially as more Americans gain insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Right now, the nation fields close to 300 advanced clinicians for every 100,000 Americans. That number is roughly 7% less than needed, based on the demand for services, which the authors extrapolate from healthcare spending. The authors write that if training programs for PAs and APNs — which include nurse practitioners — grow as currently projected while physician residency programs fail to expand, the per capita supply of advanced clinicians in 2025 will resemble the current level.

However, the workforce of 2025 in this scenario will be 20% less than needed because of burgeoning demand for services. The authors cite government studies that forecast a 65% increase in healthcare spending from 2009 to 2025 based on its historic growth rate of 2.5% above the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The healthcare reform law aims to reduce that growth rate to 1% above GDP, the authors write, but even if reformers hit this target, demand for services will still outstrip the supply of advanced clinicians.

Coauthor Richard Cooper, MD, an authority on physician workforce issues and a professor at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, chalks up the continued rise in spending not only to costly technologies but also to the sheer proliferation of new therapies.

"Research is finding ways to treat diseases that were once untreatable," Dr. Cooper told Medscape Medical News. "We once didn't treat lung cancer. Now we do. We don't treat Alzheimer's disease now, but we will in the future."

Quitting Smoking When Newly Pregnant Same as Never Smoking

Women with a newly confirmed pregnancy now have extra incentive to quit smoking, according to the results of the largest study to date looking at the effect of smoking on pregnancy outcomes.

"There's now a second clear message," said senior investigator Nick Macklon, MD, professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Southampton and director of the Complete Fertility Centre, also in Southampton, United Kingdom.

"Not only that smoking is bad for pregnancy, but...women who take the effort to stop even as late as when their pregnancy has been confirmed can achieve birth weights which are the same as if they had never smoked."

Dental worker admits plot to steal customers' personal info to get credit cards

A worker at a dental business faces up to a year in federal prison after she admitted giving customers' personal information to a relative who used it to get credit cards in her name.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Claudine Jones of Cahokia pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to conspiracy and making a false statement.

As part of her plea, Jones admitted supplying a cousin with personal information about roughly 10 Dental Network of America customers.

Those details, including Social Security numbers and birthdates, then were used by someone to get five credit cards on which $3,700 was charged.

Dental Hygienist named Miss Massachusetts 2011

Molly Whalen, 20, of Middleboro, was selected as Miss Massachusetts 2011 Saturday at the 72nd annual Miss Massachusetts Scholarship Pageant in Worcester.

Competing as Miss Taunton, she was chosen from among 15 contestants at the Hanover Theatre. She will receive more than $8,500 in scholarships, and will compete at the Miss America Pageant in January in Las Vegas.

Whalen is a 2011 graduate of Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in dental hygiene. A 2008 graduate of Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton, she is the daughter of Robert and Maureen Whalen of Middleboro.

During her year of service, she will highlight her platform "Smart Smiles: Promoting the Importance of Oral Health" as well as promoting The Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, the national platform of the Miss America Organization.

Enjoy your afternoon!