" The Professional Man has no right to be other than a continuous student "

Quote of the day

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Fluoride Causes Cavities

Like most drugs, fluoride causes what it purports to cure.

Dentists tell us that drinking “optimal” levels of fluoridated water - 1 part per million or 1 milligram fluoride per liter (quart) - each day, reduces tooth decay without serious side effects. While this dental dogma has never been proven scientifically, research shows, above optimal fluoride levels causes tooth decay and most Americans get more fluoride then they need.

The severe outward sign of fluoride overdose is dental fluorosis - yellow, brown or black stained and/or pitted teeth. Cavities increase in people with severe fluorosis according to a dentistry textbook entitled, “Dentistry, Dental Practice and the Community,” by Burt and Eklund.

This phenomenon has been demonstrated in the United States from National Institute of Dentistry and Craniofacial Research studies in seven communities in northern Illinois. The results of the dental decay examinations, related to fluoride concentrations in drinking water, form a J-shaped curve. With increasing fluoride levels, cavity experience diminishes to a certain point and then starts to rise again, the authors report.

These data suggest that the true relationship between water fluoride levels and dental decay is the J-shaped curve, with the turning point in the J being something between 3 and 4 times the optimal level, they write.

Additionally, protein-calorie malnutrition, iodine deficiency and excessive fluoride increase susceptibility to dental caries, according to the U.S. Surgeon General's first ever Oral Health Report.

The problem is that children already receive above optimum doses of fluoride even without drinking fluoridated water. By 1974 samples of duplicate meals indicated more than ten times as much fluoride as had been found thirty years earlier – and this study didn't factor in fluoride content of snack foods.

Excess fluoride may be contributing to the growing tooth decay problem in the U.S. Even though U.S. children are fluoride saturated from water, air, foods, beverages and dental products, the surgeon general reports that tooth decay is still a major problem and an epidemic in our poor and minority populations. The Centers for Disease Control reports that up to 48% of school children sport dental fluorosis - 4% is severe.

Children from the African country of Uganda have less tooth decay than American children even though most Ugandan children don’t use fluoride toothpaste or even a toothbrush to clean their teeth. In fact, Ugandan children who drink high fluoride water have more tooth decay than their equals in low fluoride districts, according to “Clinical Oral Investigations."

A different paper, presented at a June 2001 meeting of the International Association of Dental Research by Louw, et al, shows the same unexpected results with a different African population. Children drinking 3.0 mg/L water fluoride have more cavities than children drinking .19 and .48 mg/L fluoride.

Americans drink fluoridated water, use fluoridated toothpaste, eat foods and beverages made with fluoridated water, along with fluoride pesticide residues on produce and grains. Fluoride supplements, mouthrinses, treatments, varnishes, and other fluoridated dental products are used profusely in the U.S. And fluoride is a major industrial air pollutant. Fluoride is also a component of many drugs, in teflon and sulfuryl fluoride has replaced methyl bromide as a post-harves fumigant.

The big difference between American and Ugandan children is diet. The basic Ugandan diet is composed of complex carbohydrates, e.g., cooking banana, cassava, potatoes, maize and sorghum eaten at regular meals. About 80% of the children reported no between-meal intake of sugar containing items.

In American, black children have the highest rates and severity of dental fluorosis and have among the highest rates of tooth decay.

Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor essential. Fluorosed teeth contain more fluoride and less calcium than normal teeth, according to A. K. Susheela, Ph.D., Director, Fluorosis Research and Rural Development Foundation, in “A Treatise on Fluorosis.”

Research on about 400,000 Indian children by Teotia and Teotia, indicate that cavities are caused by high fluoride and low dietary calcium intakes, separately and through their interactions.

One would think dentists would be campaigning to have calcium placed in the drinking water but then they might lose the financial support they enjoy from fluoride manufacturers of toothpastes and other dental materials. When dentists endorse fluoride, people buy it.

Dentists report they are seeing more tooth decay among their soda drinking patients despite full fluoride “protection.” Ironically, many soft drinks and juices contain “optimal” fluoride levels because fluoridated tap water is used to make them.

And a study in the Journal of “Contemporary Dental Practice” shows that, among people who drink fluoridated water and use fluoride toothpaste, tooth decay still progresses after snacking on cola, apple juice or sweetened yogurt between meals. However, cavities remineralized (partially reversed) when snacks were whole milk, skim milk, 2% milk, cheddar cheese, plain yogurt and chocolate milk or no snacks at all.

An article in “RDH” (Registered Dental Hygienist) reports, “Dr. Carole Palmer, professor of nutrition and preventive dentistry at Tufts University, says, ‘We’re looking at why these things (nutrition in dentistry) have fallen by the wayside. There was a perception, perhaps, that fluoride had resolved the problem (of caries), but that’s far from the truth. A lack of research and funding in nutrition and oral connections has made it difficult to move forward. But nutritional counseling and diet counseling need to be important components of preventive dental care.’”

Like most things American, fluoride is overblown, over-prescribed, and over-used. Along with the expansion of fast food restaurants and American waistlines, fluoride's expansion into the food supply via the water supply is out of control and may be creating instead of curing tooth decay. It's time to stop water fluoridation. Fluoride can't fix a poor diet

Posted by: SallyStride
http://www.granitebaypt.com/detail/93536.html
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Friday, July 25, 2008

Writing a Personal Statement for Dental School

I have personally been through the process of applying to dental schools for an advanced standing program and I know how it feels when it comes to writing a personal statement especially when you have no clue what to write and what exactly they are looking for. When I was in need, somebody helped me and now its my turn to help others. Before I start, the following views are based on the advices/guidance I was given and from my own personal experience in this journey so far but you are the best judge for yourself.

The personal statement is one of the most important aspects of one's application which unfortunately is overlooked by prospective candidates. They are just worried about hitting the deck with scores above 90. A strong and very well written personal statement can make the all the difference. It is your first introduction to the admissions committee that also demonstrates your writing abilities.They are very experienced and they can actually make out a lot about you without actually seeing you just by reading what reflects from it.

A good personal statement should address why or how you became interested in dentistry, your past achievements and your vision of your future goals.You can mention what you can contribute to a given program if you are selected (this is also a potential interview question).

Why you ? Highlight aspects of your life that set you apart from other international dental graduates. Perhaps you have a unique cultural background that
broadens your perspective.Try to emphasize something about yourself that makes you a little different than the “average” applicant (achievements academically, in sports, any research experience, observership or dental assisting experience,any volunteer experience may not only be in dentistry but for any social cause), this will help you to “stand out from the crowd”. Admissions committees will read hundreds of personal statements; you should write in a way that attracts their attention and keeps them interested in what you have to say.

The personal statement should also allude to your professional aspirations. Be as specific as possible without making up goals. If you have a desire to do research,specialize in a particular area, focus on prevention and public health, or become a general practitioner, say what your professional career ideally would entail. You are not locking yourself into a particular career path by doing this. Everyone realizes that goals can change remarkably over the course of time, but being specific gives an idea about how focused you are.Be professional in your choice of words.

It wont be a bad idea to write a general sop which you can send to all the schools.In case you are very particular about some school then you can modify it a little bit to highlight the attributes that particular school is looking for in you. For instance some schools desire the candidates to have leadership qualities. For such schools write something that shows your leadership abilities, if you ever lead a group etc.You may also like to mention why did you come to US or why you selected this school over others.Find out some key points about that particular program and mention them in you sop. This shows that you are really interested in their program and that you actually did your homework.

Represent yourself accurately and positively.Don't be modest about your strengths and avoid mentioning weaker aspects of your application, such as poor TOEFL or NDBE scores.If there happen to be irregularities in your academic record or any other points which might need explanation, you can write about that but keep it brief and try to keep the main focus of your essay on the positive aspects.

Like any other essay a clear introduction, a body and a conclusion are a must. Make sure it is proofread, spell-checked, and grammatically correct.

You can take professional help also. There are agencies that charge you and write a SOP for you but I feel you are the best person to write about yourself. In case someone is writing for you just make sure you know whats written in your sop and review it before going for an interview. They may pick up few questions from it and ask you to elaborate.

Last piece of advice is that please do not make it too long.Be very precise and clear. With hundreds of students applying to these schools each term no one has the time or the patience to read all the junk. A good personal statement according to me is the one which is just about a page long and yet contains all that shows you as a bright and promising candidate. Some schools also mention that the personal statement be written in particular font size. Check for the requirements and modify accordingly.

All the very Best..!!!!

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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Drug Promises to Restore Sensation After Dental Visit

By ANDREW POLLACK
Published: May 12, 2008

For those who don’t like to drool, slur their speech or unknowingly bite their tongue after a visit to the dentist, help might be at hand.

A small drug company said it won approval Friday from the Food and Drug Administration to market the first drug meant to undo the effects of local dental anesthesia.

In clinical trials, the drug cut the median time it took for full sensation to return to the lips by about 75 to 85 minutes, or by more than half.

The drug, called OraVerse, was developed by Novalar Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company in San Diego. The company said it would begin selling the drug to dentists late this year for $12.50 an injection.

After a dentist finished a filling or some other procedure, he or she would inject OraVerse into the same spot where the anesthetic had been injected.

Is a drug really needed for what seems like a trivial use? Novalar and some dentists who advise the company said it might be useful for children, who can injure themselves by biting their lip or tongue without knowing it.

“Kids tend to chew on their tongue when it’s numb,” said Dr. Athena Papas, a professor at the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. The drug, however, is not approved for children younger than 6 or weighing less than 33 pounds.

Dr. Papas, an adviser to Novalar and an investigator in its clinical trials, said she thought the drug would appeal especially to those receiving cosmetic dentistry “who like to look good when they leave the dentist’s office.”

Novalar said its surveys showed great interest in the product among consumers and among dentists, some of whom said they would mark up the price of the drug as a source of profit.

With about 300 million anesthesia injections given by dentists each year, company executives say the drug could easily achieve sales of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

OraVerse is a formulation of a decades-old drug, phentolamine mesylate, which is used to treat severe episodes of hypertension.

When dentists administer lidocaine or another local anesthetic, they usually combine it with another drug called epinephrine, which acts to constrict the blood vessels. That keeps the blood from carrying away the anesthetic from the mouth too quickly.

OraVerse does the opposite, dilating the blood vessels and speeding up blood flow so the anesthetic can be carried away.

“We aren’t reversing the local anesthesia,” said Dr. Paul A. Moore, chairman of anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, who is an adviser to Novalar. “It is reversing the epinephrine.”

The label for the hypertension drug phentolamine contains warnings about heart attacks and occlusion of blood flow to the brain. Novalar said the label of OraVerse would also contain the warnings, but note that OraVerse is given in a different manner. In the clinical trials there were no serious side effects, Novalar said.

Novalar also said patients did not have pain because the anesthesia wore off more quickly, except for a little extra pain at the injection site. But the trials excluded people who got root canals or tooth extractions. Those patients would be expected to have lingering pain, and should not get Oraverse, Dr. Moore said.

In two trials of 484 patients in total, people were given either OraVerse or a sham injection. (Patients were blindfolded so they could not see the needle and, being numb, supposedly could not tell if the needle penetrated.)

People then tapped their lips every five minutes for five hours, feeling for sensation. Observers measured the symmetry of their smiles, checked for drool and listened to them read sentences.

About 41 percent of patients who got OraVerse reported normal lower lip sensation one hour after getting the drug, compared with 7 percent of those getting the sham injection. About 59 percent of those who got OraVerse had normal sensation in the upper lip after one hour, compared to 12 percent in the control group.

Courtesy "NEW YORK TIMES "

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Contact Me

Dear Friends if you found something interesting in this blog, please spare a minute to post your valuable comments and suggestions.

For any queries and suggestions, you can contact me at
doctorsumeet@gmail.com
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From the author

I always used to hear about blogs but never knew what a "Blog" actually meant. So out of curiosity I landed into Blogger. I started with great enthusiasm but soon I was found myself short of thing to write about. I published jokes, interesting facts, news; inshort something about everything.
Soon I realized that this is going nowhere. Being a dental student I thought it will be much more interesting and informative if I dedicate my blog entirely to dentistry. The things I learn everyday and then forget, the things I never knew before about dentistry or the misconceptions I had in the field; to keep all that information safe at one place before it becomes part of history again; to tie it to the back of my brain someplace so that I can put them to practice and be a better health care professional.
This is one such effort.....
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About This Blog

Dedicated to all my friends and family, who have been a source of continuous inspiration and support.

The sole purpose of writing this blog is to be a continuous learner, to share information and to keep that information safe and easily accessible before it vanishes in pages of history.