How to keep those gums in the pink

Copley News Service The best way to prevent serious periodontal disease is to get serious about your oral hygiene. And the sooner you start, the better. Gum disease can begin in the adolescent or teenage years, when “they rarely floss for weeks, months, sometimes years at a time,” says Dr. Gary Sigafoos, a San Diego […]

Growing evidence shows that gum disease can be serious … even fatal

OPEN WIDE Once again, Mom was right. For years she hounded you to brush and floss regularly to help keep your teeth and gums healthy. Little did she or anyone else know then that following her oral hygiene advice may also protect you from serious illness and disease. There’s growing evidence that gum or periodontal […]

How to avoid heart disease: brush your teeth, say scientists

Here’s another reason to brush your teeth: poor dental hygiene boosts the risk of heart attacks and strokes, a pair of studies reported this week. Heart disease is the number one killer worldwide, claiming upward of 17 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. Smoking, obesity and high cholesterol are the most […]

Preventing Hospital Pneumonia Deaths

ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2008) — Hospital-borne infections are a serious risk of a long-term hospital stay, and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), a lung infection that develops in about 15% of all people who are ventilated, is among the most dangerous. With weakened immune systems and a higher resistance to antibiotics, patients who rely on a mechanical […]

A Direct Connection

December 19, 2008 (Milan, Italy) – For the first time, researchers have shown that treating mild to moderate gum disease in otherwise healthy volunteers improves endothelial dysfunction and significantly reduces carotid intima media thickness (IMT), as measured by echo Doppler. The report by Dr Stefania Piconi (Hospital Luigi Sacco, Milan, Italy) and colleagues was published […]