Nowadays, the most topical issues of dental care and general health care in Canada attract a lot of attention of local journalists, writers and bloggers. Canada is a country known for its very advanced health care system that does not include dental care services in overwhelming majority of health insurance plans. In addition, dental services in Canada are quite expensive, therefore, a lot of people just can not afford full treatments, this way putting their general health to an increasing danger. The Ontario Ministry of Health is currently trying to provide children aged 13 and younger with a range of free dental services (including emergency services), allowing children have healthy teeth and gums.

In addition, as the findings of a latest study suggest, a great deal of modern Canadians also can not afford their usual prescription medications. A group of scientists from the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto analyzed the data on 5,700 citizens of Canada, and it turned out that 9.6 per cent of the respondents said that could not afford buying their prescription medicines. A call to save money and too high prices for the medications were named as the main reasons for this phenomena. The report about this research was recently published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Many specialists were highly disappointed with the findings of this research. Dr. Michael Law, a scientist of the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research at the University of British Columbia, said: “We claim to have a universal system and we have that for hospitals and physicians. But in Canada, we can’t claim to have a universal health care system if one in 10 are reporting they can’t afford their prescription drugs.” He said that a great deal of drugstores and a known pharmacy in Canada are making efforts on lowering the prices for the most common and the most important groups of prescription medications, including special dental kits, dental flosses, and other dental care products.

In addition to that, the government initiated a program on providing free prescription medications for serious life-threatening conditions like heart attack and others. It was found out that this program helped to actually save costs because those patients who took free prescription medications were hospitalized less frequently. “The evidence shows that providing prescription drugs for free in many situations is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes economic sense,” Dr. Danielle Martin, a chief of Canadian Doctors for Medicare said.

Tags: dental care, prescription medications

Posted: January 20th, 2012 under Miscellaneous.
Comments: none

The Dental Health Foundation has issued a warning that thousands of people aged 60+ are at increased risks to suffer from pneumonia in case if they fail to brush and floss their teeth according to the basic requirements of dental care. A group of scientists at Yale University School of Medicine carried out a research and found out that there are very strong connections between poor dental care and the risks of pneumonia, and the elderly are actually in the group of the highest risks. The findings were recently presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America in Boston.

As the experts suggest, poor dental care can cause the development of respiratory infections and increase the amounts of bacteria in the mouth which can grow into lung infection and cause such disease as pneumonia, a quite common health condition and one of the most topical public health problems that every year affects about 620 thousand people in the UK. It is also estimated that annually, this disease takes the lives of approximately five per cent of the mentioned number of pneumonia sufferers. Several previous researches have shown that there are connections between serious respiratory problems and poor dental care.

Dr Samit Joshi, one of the leading specialists and the study leaders, underlined that for many decades poor oral health has been associated with increased risks of respiratory infections, and this study was the first to establish direct relationships between oral bacterial invasions and the following development of pneumonia as an example of respiratory diseases.  He explained that poor dental care causes changes in mouth bacteria and “the changes in oral bacteria play a role in the risk for developing pneumonia.” During the study, it turned out that many chest infections can be caused by inhaling mouth bacteria, causing them go into the throat and the lungs.

Dr Nigel Carter, Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, valued the findings of his colleagues from the US very highly. He underlined that it is essential to remember about the importance of a proper dental care in winter time, when the risks of respiratory infections and related health conditions are very high. “Simply brushing your teeth for two minutes twice a day using a fluoride toothpaste, cleaning in between teeth daily with interdental brushes or floss, cutting down on how often you have sugary foods and drinks and visiting the dentist regularly, as often as they recommend will be a great starting point,” he said.

Tags: pneumonia, poor dental health, respratory infections

Posted: January 16th, 2012 under Miscellaneous.
Comments: none

Those who suffer from all sorts of spinal chord injury now have got a hope for recovery and gaining more freedom of movement as a new treatment based on the findings of recent studies of dental care specialists is about to emerge. In particular, during a research conducted by a group of experts by Nagoya University in Japan, it was found out that by using certain compounds extracted from dental pulp it can be quite possible to fix injured and broken backs, helping to improve the condition and regain some movements in the legs. The findings were recently reported in the Mirror and other popular mass media.

The experiments with lab rats have shown that certain compounds of dental pulp can not only stop the nerve cells from damage, but even stimulate their regeneration. Moreover, this sort of compounds can stimulate the development of other cells and tissues that play a role in supporting the back and its proper function. It is an absolutely new and revolutionary approach which can open new horizons in modern stem cell medicine, and the scientists have really great hopes about it.

In particular, the authors of the study report underlined the following: ‘We propose that tooth-derived stem cells may be an excellent and practical cellular resource for the treatment of spinal cord injuries.’ According to the Dr Mark Bacon, research director at the charity Spinal Research, possible clinical uses of the findings and the opportunities to develop an effective technology based on the findings will be analyzed very shortly. However, he also talked about possible difficulties and drawbacks of creating an effective treatment using this approach.

In particular, he said that the necessity to transplant the dental pulp compounds into the injured area immediately can cause certain difficulties. ‘This is not possible in patients, particularly if the cells are to be taken post-injury from the patient and purified,’ he said. It will certainly take some time before the technology is created, tested and approved, however, numerous people who suffer from various types of spinal chord injury are looking forward to this innovation and have great hopes for it. It is estimated that every year, about 12 hundred people in the United Kingdom receive serious spinal chord injury, and about 40 thousand Brits are already trying to cope with this serious health condition.

Tags: dental pulp, spinal chord injury

Posted: December 15th, 2011 under Miscellaneous.
Comments: none