A review of the risks and relationships between oral health and chronic diseases.

Advances in medical science and in preventive dentistry have changed the context of oral health. The American population is living longer with numerous complex chronic diseases. This paper is to raise awareness about the impact of multiple chronic diseases and their associations with oral diseases. Comorbidities can worsen the course of dental treatment. Inflammation has been the connecting factor in the bidirectional pattern of oral and systemic diseases. High occurrences of chronic diseases generally occur in aging as well as disadvantaged populations. Serious infections, slow healing, prolonged bleeding, and hospitalizations can escalate in patients with uncontrolled chronic diseases. A multidisciplinary team-based approach to patient management can minimize complications and unexpected challenges.

Sickle cell disease: Contributing factors and radiological assessments.

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is genetically described as an autosomal blood disorder resulting from the presence of a mutated form of hemoglobin. Morbidity, frequency of crisis, degree of anemia, and organ systems involved vary considerably per patient. Dental health professionals and other specialists commonly request comprehensive medical consultations prior to performing complex periodontal, endodontic, and surgical procedures. In order to have successful dental outcomes and minimize posttreatment dental complications, relevant disease indicators are noted. This review is to raise awareness of the impact of oral diseases in patients with sickle cell disease and to emphasize the importance of full medical disclosure, radiographic interpretation, and a well-documented medical history, and a well-written consultation which can guide treatment planning and greatly improve the course of dental treatment.

Helping Dental Students Make Informed Decisions About Private Practice Employment Options in a Changing Landscape.

According to the 2014 American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Survey of Dental School Seniors, 45.3% of new graduates planned to enter private practice immediately after graduation; of those, while 65% planned to become an associate dentist in a private practice, 28.3% intended to enter a corporate group practice-the only category that saw an increase over the previous year. Current trends indicate that the number of new graduates choosing to enter some form of private practice without further education will continue to remain high, due in large part to the need to repay educational debt. In light of these trends, the question that must be asked is whether dental schools are optimally preparing students to make informed decisions regarding future employment options in the changing dental practice landscape. This article argues that dental schools should review their curricula to ensure graduates are being prepared for this changing environment and the increased business pressures associated with dental practice. Important considerations in preparing dental students to be successful in the process of selecting a practice model are identified.

Information-seeking strategies of dental hygienists.

As health care practitioners, dental hygienists need information-gathering skills and the confidence to both perform literature searches in Internet databases and assess the results in order to utilize the wealth of scientific literature that supports evidence-based practice. The aim of this study was to assess the information-seeking strategies of dental hygienists. A self-administered electronic survey of thirty-eight questions was sent to 5,007 licensed dental hygienists in District III of the American Dental Hygienists' Association. The overall response rate was 7.9 percent (396/5,007). Most (90.9 percent) of the respondents were currently practicing dental hygiene, with 62.9 percent having practiced more than ten years. Approximately 56 percent had graduated from a two-year dental hygiene program and had graduated before 1998. Nearly all of the respondents who graduated in 1999 or after were confident using a computer (96.2 percent) and the Internet (95.4 percent); lower percentages of the pre-1999 graduates expressed such confidence (68.6 percent using a computer and 80.7 percent using the Internet). Most respondents (90.9 percent) who graduated in 1999 or after reported receiving evidence-based decision making (EBDM) training in their dental hygiene program- an increase over the 51.8 percent of pre-1999 graduates who reported having received it-though lower percentages (78.2 and 48.0 percent, respectively) reported thinking their EBDM training was adequate. Though the response rate was low, these results may suggest that information-gathering skills are being more effectively addressed in recent dental hygiene education than previously. Continuing education courses that teach hands-on navigation of databases and methods to search the scientific literature and analytically appraise it could increase both the skills and comfort level of dental hygienists, especially those who graduated more than a decade ago.

Prescription sleep aid use among adults: United States, 2005-2010.

KEY FINDINGS: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005-2010. About 4% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over used prescription sleep aids in the past month. The percentage of adults using a prescription sleep aid increased with age and education. More adult women (5.0%) used prescription sleep aids than adult men (3.1%). Non-Hispanic white adults were more likely to use sleep aids (4.7%) than non-Hispanic black (2.5%) and Mexican-American (2.0%) adults. Prescription sleep aid use varied by sleep duration and was highest among adults who sleep less than 5 hours (6.0%) or sleep 9 or more hours (5.3%). One in six adults with a diagnosed sleep disorder and one in eight adults with trouble sleeping reported using sleep aids.

Giant peripheral ossifying fibroma: a case report and clinicopathologic review of 10 cases from the literature.

Peripheral ossifying fibroma (POF) is most often a self-limiting, sessile or pedunculated, gingival nodule that is believed to be a reactive rather than neoplastic pathologic process. The lesion is typically <2cm, however it has been recognized that some examples may grow quite large and may displace teeth. The mass-like clinical presentation and radiographic appearance of soft tissue calcification may lead to misclassification; however the histologic appearance is diagnostic. Giant POFs (GPOF) have been referred to in the literature by several other names (large, atypical, huge, gigantiform). The distinguishing characteristics of GPOFs and the factors that contribute to their growth have primarily been explored through case reports. We present a new case of POF that was giant and review 10 previously reported giant lesions, with focus on the clinical presentation, radiographic features, and outcome to explore the possibility that this represents a distinct clinical subset of lesion, with a unique set of features that warrant recognition for accurate diagnosis.

Caloric intake from fast food among adults: United States, 2007-2010.

An earlier report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that the percentage of adults eating fast food increased from the early 1990s to the mid-1990s (1). Moreover, previous studies have reported that more frequent fast-food consumption is associated with higher energy and fat intake and lower intake of healthful nutrients (1,2). This report indicates that for 2007­2010, on average, adults consumed just over one-tenth of their percentage of calories from fast food, which represents a decrease from 2003­2006 when approximately 13% of calories were consumed from fast food. During 2007­2010, the highest percentage of calories from fast food was consumed among adults who were aged 20­39 or non-Hispanic black or obese. Among young non-Hispanic black adults, more than one-fifth of their calories were consumed from fast food.