Wisdom Tooth Extraction

Wisdom teeth refer to the third and the last molars found on every side of your lower and upper jaws. These are also the last set of teeth to erupt. You can expect them to come out once you reach your late teens or early 20’s. While the eruption of the wisdom teeth is essential, there are cases when they need to be removed. This happens in the case of wisdom teeth that come out crooked or those that only partially emerged.

If you are suffering from either of the mentioned cases, then you will most likely experience painful crowding, and other dental problems. This makes it necessary for you to undergo wisdom tooth extraction. However, before undergoing the procedure, you need to gather as much information as you can about it, so you will know exactly what to expect.

Reasons to Undergo Wisdom Tooth Extraction

Your wisdom tooth needs to be removed to correct an existing dental problem or prevent future problems. It is necessary if you experience any of the following:

1. Your jaw is not large enough to support their growth. This can lead to impacted wisdom teeth, making them incapable of breaking through your gums.

2. The wisdom teeth break halfway through your gums. When this happens, a flap of gum tissues will develop. This causes bacteria and foods to get trapped beneath the flap. If left untreated, it can trigger painful, swollen and red gums, further leading to infections.

3. The tooth is impacted, causing the development of more chronic dental problems like infection, cyst, and tooth and bone damage.

4. The teeth erupted in awkward positions.

What to Expect During the Procedure?

You will need to undergo the procedure in the clinic of your chosen oral surgeon. It is advisable, however, to have it in a hospital if there is a need to pull all your wisdom teeth at once. Your oral surgeon will use an anesthesia to numb you from the pain. He can choose from local, sedation or general anesthesia, depending on how complex the procedure will be, as well as your pain tolerance and comfort level.

After administering the anesthesia, the oral surgeon will cut through your gum tissue as a means of exposing the bone and tooth. He then needs to get rid of the bone, which blocks the tooth root.

The tooth is then divided into sections. This will allow your oral surgeon to remove it in pieces. He can then move on to removing the tooth, then cleaning the affected area by removing all debris. The final steps in the tooth extraction process involve stitching the incision, and placing a gauze over the site. This will start the healing process, prevent bleeding and stimulate the formation of blood clot.

Recovery

The recovery period usually takes a few days. There are even cases when you will still encounter discomfort and swelling even after one week. In this case, you need to have ice packs ready to help you deal with the pain and swelling. You should also stock up on soft foods, and clean your mouth using saltwater.

It is advisable to contact your oral surgeon right after you notice unusual symptoms or side effects, like severe pain, fever or pus discharge. You should also avoid doing heavy stuff for a few days after the treatment. This will let you recover faster.

Categories: Dental

What Are Dental Fillings?

Dental fillings are materials inserted into a decayed or damaged tooth cavity to help restore normal tooth function. They are typically made of silver, porcelain, plastic, or other composite materials.

Dentists will recommend the use of dental fillings if it is still possible to recover affected tooth without the need to extract it. Some teeth may only have one side, or one part of decay or damage, so it is best to save them. In the case of a partially damaged tooth, the use of dental fillings is the next best step since further enamel loss can be prevented once the dental fillings are positioned in the tooth cavity.

How a Dental Filling Procedure Work?

Dental filling procedures may be requested specifically prior to meeting your dentist, or he may discover tooth decay and damage during a routine dental check up, and act from there. With your permission, your dentist can prepare the affected tooth/teeth, and perform the procedure in just one session.

If extensive tooth damage is detected, your dentist will also request to take tooth X-rays. He will inform you about the different dental filling materials available based on your dental history, your preferences, extent of tooth damage, location of tooth decay, etc.

The Procedure

The dentist will first prepare the affected tooth by removing the decayed parts, and isolating them from other healthy teeth. The tooth is also cleansed with aseptic.

Next, a local anesthetic is applied to the area near the affected tooth. You will truly not feel a thing.

After that, the affected tooth is filled with either composite or amalgam fillings. The fillings are shaped to match normal tooth patterns, then dried using a bonding light.

The entire procedure may take 2 to 3 hours or more depending on the number of teeth that require dental fillings.

Dental Fillings Aftercare

Tooth with dental fillings are less likely to develop further sensitivity and enamel loss. However, you still need to brush at least twice a day, and floss. Composite dental fillings can last up to 5-6 years while amalgam (silver) dental fillings can last up to 12 years.

With a healthy diet and good oral hygiene, you are guaranteed to enjoy a decay-free set of pearly whites.

Dental Filling Cost

The cost of having dental fillings largely depend on the professional fees of your dentist, the extent of tooth damage, and your chosen filling material.

Composite dental fillings are more modern, yet expensive filling options. They cost about $240 per filling. On the other hand, silver or amalgam fillings costs only $200 per filling, and you can expect them to last for up to 12 years. These are only average rates, so be sure consult your dentist prior to agreeing to the procedure.

Categories: Dental

Cellulite Treatments: Which Work, Which Don’t

With several decades already spent on finding the “cure” for managing or eliminating cellulite, it would seem that nothing really works as people have hoped for. Otherwise, we clearly wouldn’t be having a wide array of so-called anti-cellulite treatments. But this is not to say that our search for the best way to eliminate cellulite is futile. There have been breakthroughs and setbacks. Here are some of the cellulite treatments that have been proven to work and those that clearly don’t.

Treatments that Work

These treatments have been proven to provide the best results in eliminating cellulite. Again, it is important to note that individual differences may play a role in the outcomes of such therapies.

  • Exercise – It’s cheap, doesn’t have any side effects, and practically anyone can do it. Since cellulite is almost always equated with an abnormal accumulation of fatty tissues that compresses the muscles, exercising can help reduce the amount of fat that gets stored in the subcutaneous layer of the skin. Additionally, even if cellulite is still present, increased muscle tone will make it less noticeable.

  • Weight loss – Exercise without sensible dieting is useless since you are still consuming large amounts of fat that can still be stored in depots. That is why losing weight by making more sensible food choices and exercising can all give the benefit of making those pesky cellulites go away. Plus, losing weight means your cellulite are not as noticeable compared to being fat and obese.

  • Acoustic wave therapy – This work by shaking up those fat globules and help in their elimination. Unfortunately, you’d need several sessions with the addition of lifestyle modification for it to work.

  • Laser treatments – These are targeted, very precise concentrations of light that heat up the fat globules supposedly to melt them away. Regrettably, without diet and exercise, you’re more likely to gain cellulite in the future.

 

Treatments that Don’t Work

There are plenty of cellulite treatments that either lack the scientific proof or are purely anecdotal in their claims. Again, these treatments are considered useless if we are to base them on empirical evidence alone.

  • Supplements – There are many supplements that are being marketed as anti-cellulite products simply because they contain ingredients that have been shown to exhibit a mechanism that can play a role in the reduction of cellulite. Sadly, these have not been empirically proven to help eliminate or even reduce cellulite.

  • Mesotherapy – This involves the injection of certain substances into the muscles where cellulite is seen. Unfortunately, because different mesotherapists use different substances, there is no way of telling which of these is making a huge impact on cellulite.

There are many treatments against cellulite today. Some have been proven by science to work to some degree while others are simply farce. It’s always best to seek your dermatologist’s advice if ever you need cellulite management.

Categories: Medical Conditions

How Often To See An Optometrist

One commonly asked question when it comes to optometrists is how often one should see one if you dont have eye trouble and have 20/20 vision should you really bother to see an eye doctor? The truth is that all of us from birth need to see an eye doctor from time to time. You got your first eye exam when you were born and another one 6 weeks after that. Your pediatrician may have followed up at 6 months. After that, it was your parents responsibility to make sure that you got an eye exam when you were 3 and then every couple of years after that.

As an adult, the frequency with which you should see optometrist changes as you age. According to www.preventblindness.org, a leading authority on eye care, If you are 20-39 years of age and African-American, you should get a complete eye exam every 2-4 years and If you are 20-39 years of age and Caucasian, you should get a complete eye exam every 3-5 years. They go on to say that if you are 40-64 years of age and African-American, you should get a complete eye exam every 2-4 years and the same goes for Caucasians. Anyone who is older than 65 should get an eye exam every 1-2 years.

There are other factors that will dictate the frequency of how often you visit your optometrist. If you have existing eye problems you should go in for every appointment that he gives you. Additionally, if you have a family history of eye problems such as age-related macular degeneration you should get a comprehensive eye test at least once every year. By doing this the eye doctor can catch it in the early stages of development and slow it down. 

What happens during a visit to the optometrist?

When you go in the eye doctor will do what is called a dilation test. This involves dilating the pupils so that the can see right into the eye. It takes about 20 or 30 minutes before the pupils are dilated enough for an exam. This is not just about diagnosing serious eye problems. He is also looking for other symptoms that may show that you have a range of other possible conditions. The eyes are great for diagnosing chronic illness because they are the one place you can see blood vessels up front without the use of x-rays and other such technology. 

By looking at your eyes during a dilation test the doctor can tell whether you have high blood pressure, for example. He will see little pools of blood from burst vessels and this means that you can begin treatment immediately. He can also tell whether you have high blood cholesterol, diabetes, a brain or eye tumor and much, much more. Treating these illnesses early it gives you a better chance of survival and a better quality of life as well. 

Do children get dilation tests?

As a matter of fact this is the only kind of test they get. This is for two reasons; the first is that kids are fidgety so it is harder for them to sit still for long enough for the optometrist to see inside their eyes. The other reason why kids only get this kind of test is that they have small pupils to begin with. Dilating them allows more light into them so that the doctor can have a better look. 

Dilation tests are not painful but you can expect to suffer light sensitivity for a few hours. Bring your sunglasses along to help you cope better afterwards. 

Categories: Health Care & Critical Care

Learn about Knee Therapy

Your knee has a cushion between the shinbone and thighbone known as a meniscus. The meniscus is prone to wear and tear and when it is torn it can be the source tremendous pain. At times the knee can lick and at times nothing happens but in case it does there will be need for therapeutic treatment.

In a youngish person, when a knee-wrenching activity like skiing, ultimate Frisbee, or slipping on the ice tears a meniscus, the damage is often repaired surgically. But a torn meniscus is often seen in the 9 million Americans with knee osteoarthritis, and for them the best course of action hasn’t been crystal clear. Results of the Meniscal Tear in Osteoarthritis Research (MeTeOR) trial published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine indicate that physical therapy may be just as good as surgery.

Meniscus tear2
When the shock-absorbing cartilage in the knee is torn by injury or worn ragged by use, the result is called a meniscal tear. Stiffness and a vague sensation that the knee is not moving properly often result.
Surgeons at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital and six other large hospitals recruited 351 men and women with symptom-causing knee osteoarthritis and a meniscal tear. Half completed a six-week physical therapy program aimed at easing inflammation, strengthening muscles supporting the knee, and improving the knee’s range of motion. The other half underwent a procedure called arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, in which unstable pieces of the meniscus are removed and the remaining edges are smoothed, followed by the same physical therapy program.

Participants in both groups reported similar improvements in knee function and pain at six and 12 months. About one-third of those who received only physical therapy “crossed over” during the course of the trial and had surgery.

Sourced from: http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/physical-therapy-works-as-well-as-surgery-for-some-with-torn-knee-cartilage-201303206002

Even though you might be in pain there are situations where your pain is bearable. You can actually engage in some exercises that will help you heal your knee. One of these exercises is strengthening the butt and the other is stretching the muscles that support your knees.

  1. STRENGTHEN YOUR BUTTWe know from research that knee injuries, including common Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tears, can occur when large hip muscles are weak. ACL tears, which are eight times more likely in women athletes, have been shown to lead to other cartilage tears and are correlated with knee arthritis later in life.

    As a society, our butt muscles are weak. When the main butt muscle (gluteus maximus) is weak, it causes the pelvis to drop and the upper thigh bone (femur) to fall inward. This imbalance creates painful downward stress on the hip, knee, and ankle every time you take a step.

    Hip extensions are helpful exercises to strengthen the glutes. Learn why and how to properly do hip extensions in both standing and prone position in this clip from the Strong Knees DVD.

    2. STRETCH THE MUSCLES THAT SUPPORT YOUR KNEES

    When butt muscles atrophy or become imbalanced because we sit so much of the day, the hamstrings and hip adductors (inner thigh muscles) also overwork — to compensate for the underdeveloped gluteus maximus — resulting in compressive force on the knee joint. By stretching out these support muscles, you decrease the chance that they’ll get tight and cause muscle imbalances. So remember the complementary two-fold process: as you strengthen naturally weak muscles like the glutes, also stretch supporting muscles like the inner thigh muscles.

    Sourced from:http://www.gaiam.com/discover/175/article/best-ways-ease-knee-pain-5-tips-physical-therapist/

At times knee injuries get serious and they cannot go away no matter the amount of therapy. In such a case the only last resort is surgery. This is the resort when medication is no longer effective in alleviating the pain. Your doctor of course has to examine and also allow the orthopedic surgeon to do the same to determine if you need surgery and when.

Knee replacement may be an option when nonsurgical interventions such as medication, physical therapy, and the use of a cane or other walking aid no longer help alleviate the pain. Other possible signs include aching in the joint, followed by periods of relative relief; pain after extensive use; loss of mobility; joint stiffness after periods of inactivity or rest; and/or pain that seems to increase in humid weather.

Your primary-care doctor may refer you to an orthopedic surgeon who will help you determine when/if it’s time for knee surgery and which type of knee surgery is most appropriate. Your surgeon may decide that knee replacement surgery is not appropriate if you have an infection, do not have enough bone, or the bone is not strong enough to support an artificial knee.

Signs that it might be time for a knee replacement:

Your pain persists or recurs over time
Your knee aches during and after exercise
You’re no longer as mobile as you’d like to be
Medication and using a cane aren’t delivering enough relief
Your knee stiffens up from sitting in a car or a movie theater
You feel pain in rainy weather
The pain prevents you from sleeping
You feel a decrease in knee motion or the degree to which you’re able to bend your knee
Your knees are stiff or swollen
You have difficulty walking or climbing stairs
You have difficulty getting in and out of chairs and bathtubs
You experience morning stiffness that typically lasts less than 30 minutes (as opposed to stiffness lasting longer than 45 minutes, a sign of an inflammatory condition called rheumatoid arthritis)
You feel a “grating” of your joint
You’ve had a previous injury to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of your knee

Sourced from: http://www.zimmer.com/patients-caregivers/article/knee/who-needs-knee-surgery.html

Categories: Pain Management & Relief

Find out more about Anal Abscess

Toilet hygiene is very crucial. It is important that you wipe yourself properly and also wash your hands well afterwards. This is is because you do not want to give bacteria a chance to find their way into your sensitive places. When they do get their way into the anus then there is a high possibility of you getting an infection called anal abscess.

An anal abscess is an infected cavity filled with pus found near the anus or rectum.  Ninety percent of abscesses are the result of an acute infection in the internal glands of the anus. Occasionally, bacteria, fecal material or foreign matter can clog an anal gland and tunnel into the tissue around the anus or rectum, where it may then collect in a cavity called an abscess.

An anal fistula (also commonly called fistula-in-ano) is frequently the result of a previous or current anal abscess. This occurs in up to 50% of patients with abscesses. Normal anatomy includes small glands just inside the anus. The fistula is the tunnel that forms under the skin and connects the clogged infected glands to an abscess. A fistula can be present with or without an abscess and may connect just to the skin of the buttocks near the anal opening.

Sourced from: https://www.fascrs.org/patients/disease-condition/abscess-and-fistula-expanded-information

Since you now know that there is a risk of getting this infection it is important that you know the causes. This will guide you on what you should stop doing or what you should be doing instead so as to minimize the chances of getting the infection.

A blocked anal gland, a sexually transmitted infection (STI), or an infected anal fissure can cause anal abscesses. Some other risk factors for anal abscesses include:

Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, which are inflammatory bowel diseases that cause the body to attack healthy tissue
diabetes
a compromised immune system due to illnesses like HIV or AIDS
anal sex, which can increase the risk of anal abscesses in both men and women
use of the medication prednisone or other steroids
current or recent chemotherapy
constipation
diarrhea
Toddlers or children that have a history of anal fissures (tears in the anal sphincter) are also at a higher risk for developing anal abscesses later on. Such anal fissures might occur in children who have a history of constipation.

Sourced from: http://www.healthline.com/health/anorectal-abscess#CausesandRisks2

Anal abscess treatment depends on the severity of the infection. There are situations which are an outpatient case while others can require surgical procedure. The doctor should explain to you the treatment plan after diagnosis.

Depending upon the severity of the abscess and any other medical problems, treatment may be accomplished on an outpatient or inpatient basis. The treatment plan should be explained to the patient in detail.

Minor surgery may be performed in the healthcare professional’s office or in the emergency department using local anesthesia (an injection in the infected area), and possibly IV sedation. Most patients are referred to a surgeon for treatment of perirectal abscesses because the abscess may involve additional structures or require more debridement that may not be apparent until it is surgically explored. Patients should be able to go home when they awake and will be given prescription pain medication for the first few days with some uncomplicated abscesses.
Alternatively, the surgery may be done in the operating room by a surgeon using spinal anesthesia (the patient is awake and numb from the waist down) or general anesthesia (patient is “asleep” under sedation). The hospital stay may be overnight or several days.
Admission to the hospital may be required with an IV line for fluids, antibiotics, and pain medicine.
Patients may need an update of their tetanus booster, if this has not been done in the past 5-10 years.
Blood and other tests may need to be repeated to evaluate the patient’s progress after treatment.

Sourced from: http://www.emedicinehealth.com/anal_abscess/page3_em.htm#anal_abscess_medical_treatment

Categories: General

Soccer Knee Injuries

Soccer, being one of the most popular sports in the whole world, is a superb physical activity that delivers aerobic exercise to the body. This keeps the body healthy while enhancing balance and agility. The knee injury is one common injury related to soccer players and it happens without the player’s issue. It’s essential for players to understand some of the basic injury preventions techniques, early detection and potential treatment alternatives in case of a football knee injury.

Common Soccer Knee Injuries
Strains- Contracting the hamstring and groin muscles persistently against resistance or in a peculiar way contributes to muscle pulls. As a way to reduce these thigh pulls, the player should do exhaustive flexibility exercises. Routine warm-up and muscle stretching accentuate continuous blood circulation in the quadriceps veins and this improves joint flexibility minimising injuries.

Sprains – These are mainly related to the knee and ankle. Ligaments are usually involved since they’re the one holding and supporting the knee and ankle joints. A sprain on the medial collateral ligaments is another form of injury caused mainly by the pivoting or unexpected change of direction. To prevent this, appropriate exercises and stretching need to be a routine, the Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation treatment system may also function. In the undesirable state, additional medical intervention should be sought, and these include throwing, bracing or knee surgery.

Breaks – The nature of the soccer play entail rapid, surprising and tactical moves; physical contact between players may be part of them. The common breaks because of tough and direct contact mainly influence the lower leg, foot, and ankle bones. In order to prevent such injuries due to body contact, a quick reaction in the player is critical. That is the response to any contact particularly leg –leg or shoe-shoe. This requires flexibility and usual practice.

Treatment of Soccer Knee Injury
Some of the football injuries are mild wild others are quite acute and include surging pain around the affected knee. The mild injuries are consistently treated promptly using the rest, ice, compression and elevation processes and the effects usually are transient.

Pushing through the pain is harmful and in case the player feels unwell after the process, medical intervention should be obtained from an experienced licensed private. Where the knee injury is serious, and the effects are felt in the complete body, improvement treatment options become the best option.

This includes the Knee Arthroscopic surgery that is an operational process to repair injured tissues such as cartilages, bones or ligaments within the knee joint. This can be a complex medical procedure involving small skin incisions with the aid of high-tech machines.

In Australia, you happen to be lucky to have some of the most advance surgical procedures available on earth. Orthopaedic surgeons are extremely well trained and use the most advanced techniques. The best spot to find the best surgeon reviews is: best knee surgeon site – click here.

The surgery treatment approach is the best recovery option allowing you to continue with your normal activities within the shortest time possible. It calls for less cutting and less anaesthetic processes with short recovery time. Different distinct processes are called for the successful recovery of an acute knee injury and determined by the region impacted and degree of damage to the tissues. Some of the common processes are; the anterior cruciate ligament, the lateral collateral ligament, medial collateral ligament and the posterior cruciate ligament.

Post-Surgery Knee Exercises
The correct amount of knee exercises is strongly suggested after the surgery to keep the tissues in position. A competent knee surgeon will, however, ensure that the ideal conditions and status of your knee are regained after the treatment and you may enjoy your football career afterwards.

Categories: Medical Conditions

Problems Facing Health Care Workers Today

When people go to hospitals they expect treatment of high standards. Health care workers do their best to see that patients recover and are doing well. However these workers have a lot of challenges that one would be surprised how they are able to deliver.

The increasing number of patients that doctors and nurses must treat are affecting patient care and these workers’ quality of work and life. Health care worker shortages are making these problems worse and the inability of many people to pay for health care coverage makes them hard to treat. Difficult working conditions in some parts of the country and the rising number of retirees who may need advanced care are sure to test dwindling resources, too.

Sourced from : http://www.ehow.com/about_6124132_issues-facing-health-care-workers.html

Everyone would like to advance in their career field. This however is not the case for most health workers. Moving up the ladder proves quite difficult for them.

Lack of advancement opportunities. Fifty-one percent of healthcare workers said lack of advancement opportunities posed a significant challenge in their current or previous position. The number was slightly lower among nurses: 49 percent of nurses identified advancement opportunities as a challenge, compared to 52 percent of other healthcare professionals.

The CareerBuilder survey also asked healthcare professionals if their current or most recent employer offered a number of different employee development programs, including in-house skills training, education reimbursement, technology training and opportunity for innovation. Of the 10 programs listed, only one — in-house skills training — was answered “yes” by more than 50 percent of survey takers. Interestingly, employers felt differently: In response to the same question, more than 50 percent of employers said they offered in-house skills training, education reimbursement, flexible work schedules, cross-training and the opportunity to mentor others.

Sourced from: http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/the-top-10-challenges-facing-healthcare-workers.html

In health care institutions there are health care assistants who help the other health workers. Things are not easy for them too. The main problem is the lack of standards nationally. Most of the times they are like robots who must wait for the next direction.

The main issue facing healthcare assistants is that there are no national core standards, and that there is a huge variation in what they’re allowed to do and where they are allowed to do it. Some people perform advanced practitioner duties when they are a band 2, and yet they should be paid band 4. It’s so inconsistent – often what an HCA is allowed to do is dependent on who they are working with because some supervisors and nurses are prepared to delegate and others are not. Registrants are also uncertain about what they can and can not delegate, and they can feel guilty about delegating their work to someone who is only being paid as a band.

Sourced from: http://www.nursingtimes.net/what-are-the-issues-facing-healthcare-assistants-in-todays-climate/5046318.fullarticle

Health care workers provide a lot of care but the same care is not extended to them in terms of salary value. They are not paid well and this is a demotivating factor in the work place.

Do we really believe that poor, unfair treatment of care support workers will give us the standard of care we demand? Society should put its money where its indignation is, says John Kennedy.

Today has seen the publication of a new report into the training and supervision of healthcare assistants in the NHS and social care.

Whilst the report highlights some alarmingly bad practice and poor support for these workers it also talks of providers with some excellent practice.

In amongst the usual recommendations about more training and ‘tougher’ management, there are some glimpses of a more fundamental truth we would be wise to reflect upon.

Cavendish said: “Patient safety in the NHS and social care depends on recognizing the contribution of support workers, valuing and training them as part of a team.

“For people to get the best care there must be less complexity and duplication and a greater focus on ensuring that support staff are treated with the seriousness they deserve – for some of them are the most caring of all.”

Sourced from: https://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/can-we-really-improve-care-while-support-staff-are-treated-so-poorly

Categories: Health Care & Critical Care