Don’t Let Economic Struggles Destroy Your Teeth

Stress causes teeth grinding and Splintek(R) has an affordable solution with the Sleep Right(R) Dental Guard

Does this look familiar? Bailouts, the stock market is down, global recession, high unemployment levels, retail stores are ghost towns, and everyone is uninsured without a retirement plan. It should, it’s impossible to read today’s headlines and find anything to be optimistic about.

We are facing tough economic times, but do we need to continuously dwell on the negatives? Does this help solve our problems? Or does this continuous barrage of negative issues actually make things worse and increase our stress levels?

Stress can lead to teeth grinding, a weakened immune system, digestive problems, increased blood pressure, muscle and joint pain, and headaches. Teeth grinding, left untreated, can cause jaw and head tension, damaged dental work, cracked or fractured teeth, nightly noise that can wake your sleep partner, and flattened teeth that reduces the beauty of your smile.

The SleepRight dental guard is an affordable and effective solution that will save you trips to the dental office and help you avoid using a bulky boil and bite type of guard that requires boiling water and biting into hot plastic. The Sleep Right dental guard combines innovative self-adjust technology for a comfortable, custom fit.


Even in Poor Economy, Consumers Urged to Prioritize Health Care

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Nov 20,2008

Household budget cutbacks are becoming commonplace as most Americans struggle to make ends meet, but experts warn that health care needs should not be among the forfeited services. Recent research indicates that more than 20 percent of people have cut back on medical visits to save money and The Vision Council warns that this cost-saving strategy could have serious consequences.

“During this economic crisis, people might decide that they cannot afford to pay for preventive health care,” said Ed Greene, CEO of The Vision Council. “While forgoing such care as a regular eye exam may seem like the only option during these tough times, it is a sacrifice that may come with a high price.”

Vision disorders are the second most prevalent health problem in the country, affecting more than 120 million people, so the effect of postponing or avoiding eye care because of the cost — which 40 percent of Americans report doing — could be dangerous. Many vision-threatening conditions have no early warning signs and eye exams can also detect other serious health problems including diabetes and hypertension.

According to a report recently issued by The Vision Council, two-thirds of Americans say they would be more willing to get an eye exam if they had some vision coverage, yet only 17 percent of employers report offering vision insurance. Uncorrected vision problems also have an impact on the bottom line for employers, costing more than $8 billion in lost productivity every year.

For those who lack vision insurance, or even those whose benefits don’t cover all the costs associated with an eye exam, one way to make maintaining healthy vision more affordable is to use funds in a flexible spending account (FSA) toward that care. FSAs enable participants to use pre-tax income to pay for out-of-pocket health expenses, such as an eye exam or a new pair of eyeglasses. These pre-tax dollars are set aside at the beginning of the year and must be used by the end of the year or the funds are forfeited.

“A regular eye exam is the best way to keep your eyes healthy and your eyeglass prescription current,” reminds Greene. “Many times an eye doctor can see things you can’t.”

For more information about maintaining healthy vision, visit www.thevisioncouncil.org.

Dedicated to enhancing life through better vision, The Vision Council represents the manufacturers and suppliers of the optical industry. We provide a forum to advocate for better vision and to promote quality vision care products and services in the global community.


Nearly One Third of Stroke Patients Leave Hospital With No Explanation for Injury

In nearly one third of all people who suffer from a stroke, the underlying cause of the injury is not readily evident to doctors. Atrial fibrillation (AF), or an irregular heartbeat, is believed to be a significant factor in many of these cases.

Stroke researchers at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) in Pittsburgh today are reporting in the journal Neurology that a new diagnostic approach that extends the monitoring of patients’ hearts after hospital discharge greatly improved their ability to detect AF and treat it appropriately.

Led by Ashis Tayal, M.D., a stroke neurologist and medical director of AGH’s Comprehensive Stroke Center, the AGH team explored the use of mobile outpatient cardiac telemetry over a period of 2-3 weeks to monitor patients who have experienced a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA) of unknown cause.

Atrial Fibrillation was diagnosed in 23% of the study participants where conventional diagnostic protocols had failed.

“Stroke is an extremely challenging disease to treat and prevent when we know the cause or an individual’s specific risk factors. That so many patients actually leave the hospital without a precise reason for their injury is a very frustrating scenario for physicians and one that has potentially devastating implications for patients and their families,” Dr. Tayal said.

The nation’s third leading cause of death, stroke is the number one cause of serious, long-term disability.

“If we can indeed identify AF more promptly in these cases, our ability to treat patients and perhaps prevent a second, more catastrophic injury would be significantly enhanced,” he said.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm abnormality that people develop. During AF the heart’s two upper chambers (the atria) beat chaotically and irregularly. The condition causes poor blood flow and the development of blood clots within the heart which can subsequently release into the arteries of the brain and cause a stroke.

Dr. Tayal said the conventional approach to evaluating stroke patients is an extensive in-hospital diagnostic work-up that includes neurological imaging such as MRI and angiography and cardiovascular studies, such as telemetry and holter monitoring, that assess the heart’s rhythm.

“Intermittent AF becomes more common as we grow older and as a known risk factor for stroke, the current standard of care when the cause of injury is unclear is to monitor patients with telemetry for several days in the hospital. Unfortunately, our probability of detecting AF in this brief window of time is less than 1%,” Dr. Tayal said.

Using a newer, mobile telemetry system called CardioNet, Dr. Tayal and his AGH colleagues evaluated 56 patients with stroke of unknown etiology and no previous history of AF for a period of three weeks post-discharge. Hospital based telemetry and holter monitoring results for all were normal.

The CardioNet System requires no patient interaction. Via three leads attached to a lightweight sensor worn on a neck strap or belt clip, the monitor analyzes a patient’s heart rhythm in real time during normal daily activities. When the system identifies an abnormal rhythm, the data is automatically transmitted to the medical team.

Over the course of three weeks, thirteen of the 56 patients in AGH’s study were found to have either prolonged or brief episodes of AF. For those with prolonged incidents — a clear indication of stroke cause — the discovery prompted immediate therapeutic intervention with medication designed to better protect the patient from a repeat stroke.

Dr. Tayal said the results are equally important relative to those found to have brief episodes of AF.

“AF of relatively short duration — 10, 15 seconds or so — does not place a patient at imminent risk of a blood clot or stroke, but it may be a maker of those who are prone to a more dangerous, prolonged episode that does. Knowing that someone is predisposed to AF substantially alters our approach to treating them and may ultimately improve outcomes,” Dr. Tayal said.

Source: Allegheny General Hospital


National Report Ranks Alaska No. 1 in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Nov 19,2008

Ten Years After Tobacco Settlement, States Falling Short in Funding Tobacco Prevention

Ten years after the November 1998 state tobacco settlement, Alaska ranks No. 1 in the nation in funding programs to protect kids from tobacco, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.

Alaska currently spends $9.2 million a year on tobacco prevention programs, which is 86 percent of the $10.7 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is one of only nine states that are spending more than half of what the CDC recommends.

Other key findings for Alaska include:

  • The tobacco companies spend $28.1 million a year on marketing in Alaska. This is three times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.
  • Alaska this year will collect $103 million from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes and will spend about 9 percent of it on tobacco prevention.

The annual report on states’ funding of tobacco prevention programs, titled “A Decade of Broken Promises,” was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Alaska has made a solid commitment and ranks first this year when it comes to protecting kids from tobacco,” said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “On this 10th anniversary of the tobacco settlement, we call on Alaska’s leaders to build on their commitment to tobacco prevention by increasing funding to the CDC’s recommended amount. Tobacco prevention is a smart investment that reduces smoking, saves lives and saves money by reducing tobacco-related health care costs.”

On Nov. 23, 1998, 46 states settled their lawsuits against the nation’s major tobacco companies to recover tobacco-related health care costs, joining four states (Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Minnesota) that had reached earlier settlements. These settlements require the tobacco companies to make annual payments to the states in perpetuity, with total payments estimated at $246 billion over the first 25 years. The states also collect billions of dollars each year in tobacco taxes.

The new report finds that most states have broken their promise to use a significant portion of their tobacco money to fund programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.

According to the report, the states in the last 10 years have received $203.5 billion in revenue from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. But they have spent only 3.2 percent of this tobacco money – $6.5 billion – on tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

Other findings of the report include:

  • In the current year, no state is funding tobacco prevention at CDC-recommended levels, and only nine states fund their programs at even half of the CDC recommendation.
  • 41 states and the District of Columbia are funding tobacco prevention programs at less than half the CDC-recommended amount. These include 27 states that are providing less than a quarter of the recommended funding.
  • Total funding for state tobacco prevention programs this year, $718.1 million, amounts to less than three percent of the $24.6 billion the states will collect from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. It would take just 15 percent of this tobacco revenue to fund tobacco prevention programs in every state at CDC-recommended levels.

The report warns that the nation faces two immediate challenges in the fight against tobacco use: complacency and looming state budget shortfalls. First, while the nation has made significant progress over the past decade in reducing smoking, progress has slowed and further progress is at risk without aggressive efforts at all levels of government. Second, the states are expected to face budget shortfalls in the coming year as a result of the weak economy. The last time the states faced significant budget shortfalls, they cut funding for tobacco prevention programs by 28 percent between 2002 and 2005. The cutbacks are a major reason why smoking declines subsequently stalled, and states should not make the same mistake again.

The report found that there is more evidence than ever that tobacco prevention programs work to reduce smoking, save lives and save money by reducing tobacco-related health care costs. Washington State, which has been a national leader in funding tobacco prevention, has reduced smoking by 60 percent among sixth graders and by 43 percent among 12th graders since the late 1990s. A recent study found that California’s tobacco control program saved $86 billion in health care costs in its first 15 years, compared to $1.8 billion spent on the program, for a return on investment of nearly 50:1.

In Alaska, 17.8 percent of high school students smoke, and 1,100 more kids become regular smokers every year. Each year, tobacco claims 500 lives and costs the state $169 million in health care bills.

More information, including the full report and state-specific information, can be obtained at www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements.

Source: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids


Categories

Archives

Blogroll

Meta