January 10 is Find a Dentist Day!
Emergency Munchies
Estimated 61 percent of U.S. adults are
either overweight or obese.
Obesity has nearly doubled is the last
20 years.
Think twice before stocking a grocery store in your
office drawer. Food storage may attract pests to your work area. If your
office already has a problem with pest infestation, it might be best to
avoid setting your desk up as a feeding station. Plus, if food spills
over into the desk drawer and isn't thoroughly cleaned, it can become a
breeding ground for bacteria or what Gerba would call a "bacteria
cafeteria." Higher temperatures when the office is closed also may
contribute to food spoilage in a desk drawer.
If it is suitable to store food in your desk drawer,
plan to keep a limited stock of foods and replace them frequently. Check
"use by" dates on packages. You'll have fewer problems if you
opt for individually wrapped, single-serving portions of foods for a
desk drawer. If your office gets hot when your work facility is closed,
you might take home any food left at the end of your work week. Food
loses quality and deteriorates faster when stored at higher
temperatures.
You may be better off carrying a small amount of food
in a briefcase, handbag or backpack.
Some possibilities for emergency office munchies
include the following. Include single-use plastic spoons with foods
needing them.
- Crackers, preferably whole grain and lower in fat
and sodium
- Nuts
- Soynuts
- Individual boxes of 100 percent juice
- Individual serving bags of microwave popcorn
- Single serving containers of fruit, preferably
lower in added sugar
- Single serving box of milk-based pudding,
preferably lower in fat
- Small snack pack of crackers and peanut or soynut
butter
- Low-fat granola or protein bar
- Individual shelf-stable box of cow's or soy milk
Food
Reflections 1/07 University of Nebraska
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Six Beauty Moves for a Superstar
Smile
The average woman smiles about 62
times a day!
A man? Only 8!
Kida laugh around 400 times a day.
Grown-ups just 15:-(
Smilers in school yearbooks are more likely to have successful careers
and marriages than poker faced peers.
-
Relax- a real smile reveals
facial muscles all pointing upward from your jaw right up to your
eyebrows, mouth is often open and your eyes are crinkly
:-)
-
Plump lips-lay off the lip
pencil, it looks fake. Just trace a clear, shimmer highlighter
pencil above the cupid's bow on your upper lip, the reflection makes
it look fuller or try a mouth moisturizer. Well-hydrated lips
look fuller.
-
Brighten your teeth in seconds-try
a lipstick in true reds, avoid coral or orangey shades...they bring
out the yellow.
-
Go white...just not too, too
white-refrigerator white teeth are out...instead go for a
softer, more translucent shade. Bring a photo of a person
whose teeth you admire with you to the dentist
office.
-
Sparkle up your eyes-Smear
a little shimmer cream under your brows and down onto the center of
you lids, every time you blink your eyes will sparkle and get plenty
of rest.
-
Smile...it will do your body good. 30
minutes of a hearty laugh, your white blood cell count shoots up by
25%, strengthening your disease fighting powers.
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Is your Family Sharing Too Much?
Toothbrushes harbor hidden germs
during cold and flu seasons.
You wouldn't think of sharing your toothbrush.
Studies show that toothbrushes can become heavily contaminated with oral
microorganisms because most families store toothbrushes in a common
storage space. Airborne bacteria can move from toothbrush
to toothbrush passing opportunistic infections such as periodontal
disease and the common cold from one person to another.
Your best defense is to go undercover by using a
toothbrush cover.
Splattering water, contact with skin and toothbrushes
knocking against one another are all circumstances that contribute to
the spread of bacteria so:
 | remember to rinse the bristles of your toothbrush
thoroughly |
| shake any extra moisture from the brush |
| storing it upright |
| place a cover over the toothbrush head |
| wash your hands before and after brushing |
| soak unused brushes in antiseptic mouthwash |
| use more than one toothbrush to make this process
more practical |
The bathroom is usually the most
contaminated room in the house! Protect yourself by protecting
your toothbrush.
| If You: |
Try: |
| Use a community toothbrush holder |
Using a toothbrush cover to prevent
contamination |
| Lay toothbrush flat in the cabinet |
Storing upright. This
position helps drain water and dry the brush faster |
| Store toothbrushes on the bathroom
counter |
Moving away from the sink and
toilet to prevent airborne contamination |
| Catch a cold or virus |
Tossing out the toothbrush and
replacing it. Bacteria often lingers and can sere to lengthen
illness. |
There is increasing evidence that decay and
periodontal disease are both contagious diseases. The causative bacteria
can be passed from parent to child or from lover to lover by kissing.
People who never had a cavity may suddenly have several (or more)
because of the person’s new relationships!
Practical advice---if your kids or your lover have
active decay or gum and bone disease, you BOTH may need treatment,
including the use of antibacterial rinses,
for the disease to be controlled.
Source: Is Your Family Sharing Too Much, Susan Urbanczyk, Molly Eaton
AGD January 2002.
Cold
and Flu Guide
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January 2002
Dieting and Dental Health
Now that the New Year has arrived many people are wanting to
diet and shed a few pounds. Actions taken to control your weight may affect more
than your weight, they can put your teeth in danger.
Crash diets, eliminating meat or fatty foods, appetite
suppressants and extreme behaviors such as fasting and binging
and purging harm teeth. "People need to be aware of how their dieting
actions affect their oral health," according to Academy of General
Dentistry.
Diet pills may decrease salivary flow and cause dry
mouth which is devastating to oral health. Fasting can cause a decrease of
necessary minerals, including calcium, and
anorexia can lead to a deficiency of vitamins
and minerals needed to maintain a healthy body and oral health.
Diet is an important part of an individual's medical
history, and patients should always inform their dentist
and physician if they adhere to a diet plan, dieting behavior or undertake
drastic dieting actions.
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January 2001
Make a New Year's Resolution for a Healthy Smile
Start the New Year off by treating yourself to a healthy
smile. Try these tips to help you maintain a healthy mouth:
|
Brush
your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste
for at least 2 minutes and clean between your teeth daily with floss.
|
|
Eat a balanced diet for overall good health by selecting a
variety of foods from the food pyramid and
limit snacks.
|
|
See your dentist regularly for dental
exam and professional cleaning-a key to
helping prevent tooth decay and gum tissue.
|
|
Tell your dentist about medical conditions you have and any
medications you are taking-prescription or
over-the-counter.
|
|
Ask your dentist about cosmetic
options for improving the appearance of teeth that are stained or
chipped.
|
|
Don't use tobacco products; they can increase your risk of periodontal
disease and cancer of mouth and throat.
|
|
Don't chew on hard objects like ice or pencils it can cause
teeth to crack.
|
|
Don't ignore gums that bleed when you brush or floss or
changes in the way your teeth fit together when you bite. See your
dentist for an evaluation of the
problem.
|
|
Don't forget to wear a mouthguard
when playing active sports.
|
Source: American Dental Association
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January 2000
Targeting oral
cancer
Public awareness campaign stresses key role dentists play
in detecting disease
An ADA campaign aimed at boosting public
awareness of oral cancer and spotlighting the dentist’s role
in detecting this potentially deadly disease will launch in
mid-September.
Made possible through an educational grant
from OralScan Laboratories
Inc., the campaign will span three to four months in each of
10 selected major markets across the country, starting in
September in Chicago and San Francisco
Campaign messages encouraging
the public to see their dentist for an oral cancer screening
will be delivered through a variety of outdoor vehicles —
billboards, bus and bus-shelter signs, taxi tops and commuter
bulletins.
Preliminary messages advise
consumers that “early detection of oral cancer is now possible
and painless.” Patients are encouraged to “see your
dentist today.”
Also, as the campaign launch
date nears, the Association will establish a repository of oral
cancer information on its Web site, “www.ada.org”. Materials
provided on the site will include research articles, information
for patients and a range of other items.
The JADA article presented
results from a double-blind study of 945 patients screened for
oral cancer at multiple sites across the country. Findings from
the OralCDx tests of oral lesions were confirmed later by
scalpel biopsy.
“In 945 patients, OralCDx
independently detected every case of histologically confirmed
oral dysphasia and carcinoma,” with a false negative rate of
zero, wrote Dr. James J. Sciubba, principal author of the JADA
report and a member of the collaborative study group that tested
OralCDx.
The computer-assisted brush
biopsy, he wrote, “appears to determine the significance of an
oral lesion definitively and [to] detect innocuous-appearing
oral cancers at early, curable stages.”
More than 30,000 new cases of
oropharyngeal cancer are reported each year. The disease
kills about 8,000 U.S. citizens annually, making
it more deadly than cervical cancer, malignant melanoma and
Hodgkin’s disease.
Tobacco use and excessive alcohol consumption are major risk
factors for oral cancer, but about 25 percent of victims neither
smoke nor drink.
Other studies show that 5 to
15 percent of dental patients routinely present some type of
oral lesion. Most of these are benign; about 6 percent are
not.
By
James Berry A.D.A. News
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January 1,2006 |
