Are Diabetes and Obesity Linked To Periodontitis?

The University of Illinois at Chicago has received a two-year federal grant to continue a study on how periodontitis, an inflammatory disease of the tissues surrounding teeth, is linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Dr. Keiko Watanabe of the UIC College of Dentistry has found that periodontitis accelerates the onset of insulin resistance in rats fed a high-fat diet. Her new research will determine how periodontitis affects diabetic complications in the retina, aorta and pancreas.

"The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has risen dramatically as the result of an increase in obesity caused by a high-fat diet, junk food and a sedentary lifestyle," said Watanabe, associate professor of periodontics. Although the association between obesity, type 2 diabetes and periodontitis is recognized, she said, the underlying causes remain poorly understood.

Reoccurring Headaches Linked To Dental Pain

Could that nagging headache and painful jaw be tied to your oral health? Many headache sufferers might want to consult their dentist as well as their doctor since headaches and dental pain have a lot in common, says Director of the Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine Graduate Program at the USC School of Dentistry Glenn Clark.

Pain centered in the nerves and muscles running throughout the face and neck, as well as poor habits the discomfort may cause, can trap sufferers in a painful feedback loop, with head pain triggering jaw and neck pain and vice versa.

"Headaches and toothaches all transmit through the trigeminal nerve, the largest sensory nerve in the head that supplies the external face, scalp, jaw, teeth and much of the intra-oral structures," Clark says. "Pain in one branch of the nerve has the potential to activate other branches of the nerve, and when that pain is chronic and sustained, it is more likely to trigger a sequence of events that might lead to a headache. In people who have headaches, a continuous, sustained toothache can easily trigger one of the episodic headaches such as migraines."

Nasal Spray Could Replace The Anesthetic Needle

Dental News

How Paying Through The Nose Can Be A Good Thing

The American Chemical Society's journal Molecular Pharmaceutics is reporting in the May/June issue that a common local anesthetic, when administered to the nose as nose drops or a nasal spray, discovery could lead to new intranasal drugs for noninvasive treatment for dental pain.

The approach could provide a more effective and targeted method for treating dental pain/anxiety, trigeminal neuralgia (severe facial pain), migraine, and other painful conditions, the scientists say.

Having A Nose For Advances In Dental Pain Treatment

Researcher Neil Johnson, working in the labs of Frey and Leah R. Hanson, Ph.D. at Regions Hospital in Minnesota, found that lidocaine or Xylocaine, sprayed into the noses of laboratory rats, quickly traveled down the trigeminal nerve and collected in their teeth, jaws, and mouths at levels 20 times higher than in the blood or brain.

Having A Baby? See Your Dentist, Advises Doctor

Ready to have a baby? It's time to pencil in a checkup... with your dentist. Oral care is probably not first on the priority list when it comes to planning a pregnancy. But ask a doctor who has helped about 6,500 women bring their new bundles of joy into the world - including his fair share on camera - and he'll tell you that taking care of teeth is key in helping ensure overall health.

High-risk pregnancy specialist Dr. Charles Hux, featured on the television series "A Baby Story," on TLC said if a woman has had dental problems in the past, she definitely should see a dentist prior to the start of pregnancy. "Even if she hasn't had problems with her teeth, it's important to have them checked to ensure there isn't any work that needs to be done, as dental problems and decay can result in high risk of premature labour and delivery," said Dr. Hux.

Fight Plaque With... Gummy Bears?

The tooth-protecting sugar substitute xylitol has been incorporated into gummy bears to produce a sweet snack that may prevent dental problems. Research published in the open access journal BMC Oral Health describes how giving children four of the xylitol bears three times a day during school hours results in a decrease in the Plaque bacteria that cause tooth decay.

Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that is frequently used as a sweetener. It has been shown to reduce levels of the harmful mutans streptococci (MS) bacteria that are known to cause tooth decay. While xylitol chewing gums are available, they are not considered to be suitable for younger children. This research was led by Kiet A. Ly from the University of Washington. He says, "For xylitol to be successfully used in oral health promotion programmes amongst primary-school children, an effective means of delivering xylitol must be identified. Gummy bears would seem to be more ideal than chewing gum."

Up Sales, Down Sales

Anyone who has ever been associated with sales knows that you have your good times and your bad times. What no one tells you is that there is frequently nothing you can do about your bad times and that sometimes you're bad times lead to no-more times!

This is the dilemma that has plagued my online business since the end of September as since then my sales have been down by 60%-70%... and for the life of me I can't figure out why. I haven't done anything different, there isn't any new competition and I have not decreased my advertising budget. This "slump" is so severe that if I do not find a new way of attracting new sales I'm simply going to stop advertising altogether and slowly let my business die on the vine.

New Test For Detecting Breast Cancer

Dentists May Soon Use Saliva To Make Early, Non-Invasive Diagnoses For Breast Cancers

The onset of breast cancer produces a change in the normal type and amount of proteins in glandular secretions from the salivary glands. Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston know what to look for and published their study findings last month (January 2008) in "Cancer Investigation."

The ultimate goal is to bring a diagnostic saliva test, which is capable of detecting cancer before a tumor forms, into dental offices or other health care facilities. The technology aims to enable health care providers to provide quick, accurate diagnostic information and physician referrals to their patients.