As pharmaceutical companies continue their search for non-opioid pain relief, we’ve made solid, evidence-based progress, and one of the most consistent research findings is this: acetaminophen combined with ibuprofen is a spectacular combination for managing post-procedural dental pain. This combination delivers everything the human system needs for short-term relief of acute, traumatic discomfort: anti-inflammatory action reduces the swelling and pressure …
Oral Antibiotics and Cancer Risk: Is There A Link?
When we talk about the oral-systemic connection, we’re really talking about a subsystem of the human body itself. And while we frequently think of ourselves as 100% human, that isn’t the full picture. That’s right. You are a moving ecosphere. Microbial life forms living in the human body outnumber your own cells, in fact; up to 100 trillion in every …
Colchicine: Ancient Anti-Inflammatory Could Prevent Atherosclerosis Like Aspirin (But at What Price?)
As long as 3,500 years ago, the plant source of the drug we now know as colchicine was already being described as a source of relief for swelling and rheumatism: In 1550 B.C., an Egyptian of great learning first wrote about the anti-inflammatory properties of the autumn crocus–colchicum autumnale–in a papyrus. One of the oldest known compendiums of herbal medical …
“I Want A New Drug:” OTC Inhaler Abuse
As in the period of transition that followed the end of alcohol Prohibition, the medical community will need to adjust its approach to screening and evaluating patient cannabis use. The potential for use and abuse disorders are not the only risks of regular consumption; cannabinoids bind with cytochrome P450, for example–the same enzyme responsible for “Grapefruit Warnings” on many drugs …
Blood Thinners, Anti-Inflammatories, Supplements, & Bleeding: A Danger Zone
Polypharmacy. That’s a big word used among health care professionals, and it describes a pernicious, complicated, subtle syndrome: Little imbalances and unintended consequences that can add up to big ones as we introduce more and more substances to a patient’s system to help treat or control medical conditions. In other words: Lots of drugs lead to lots of effects–and sometimes …
Vitamin E Acetate, EVALI, and A Higher Death Risk in Older Patients
When a few initially “isolated” cases of vaping-associated lung injury were recognized as a wider-spread phenomenon earlier this summer, epidemiologists at the US Centers for Disease Control roared into action. That was–let us not be unambiguous–a very good thing. Soon it became apparent that the symptoms health professionals were seeing in emergency rooms before flu season was the leading edge …
Does Soda Really Rot Your Teeth? And Make You Fat? Surprise…(or Not!)
Sometimes health research dazzles us with stunning new insights and novel correlations that crack open unimagined vistas. The headlines blare unusual, creative connections, showing us things we’d never even suspected before. Those are rare days for science. Much of the time, people in labs at the bench or crunching numbers in front of a screen are doing what the Discussion …
Benzocaine Can Give A Whole New Meaning to “Blue Blood”
When a 25-year-old woman showed up in a Rhode Island emergency room reporting that she was fatigued, weak, and short of breath—and that her skin had turned a shade of blue overnight not normally associated with living people—medical personnel on call knew something was very wrong. One quick-witted physician had fortunately seen the condition before, early in his training, and …
What Twins’ Baby Teeth Are Telling Us About ADHD and Autism
A research team in Sweden, looking for a way to test a hypothesis about the effects of chemical exposure on fetal neurological development, recently enlisted an unusual assistant: The Tooth Fairy. Not really, of course. But the team did collect naturally lost baby teeth from sets of twins (and one set of triplets) in order to analyze their chemical makeup. …
Episode 88 – Dental Assistant Nation (Vaping & Oral Health)
It was an absolute pleasure to chat with Kevin Henry about vaping and oral health in addition what dental assistants can do to help patients! Listen to the full episode on Sound Cloud! Click here Want a quick overview? Read Kevin’s great DentistryIQ summary.