How Effective is Mouthwash?

How Effective is Mouthwash?

Written by Dentistry TodayTuesday, 18 June 2013 14:50

Mouthwash may not work as well as many studies claim.

A recent clinical study in the Journal of Clinical Dentistry analyzed this issue. It showed that mouthwash did slightly reduce the risk of gum disease.

To compile the data, 139 participants were divided into two groups. The first group was told to use mouthwash while the other group was given a placebo to gargle with. The results concluded that the group using mouthwash had better oral health than the group that used the placebo.

Research, however, has shown that mouthwash can aid in lowering the risk of oral disease and bad breath but only by a marginal amount. The most important thing regarding oral health is to brush twice each day for at least 2 minutes.

Issues arise when people think they can use mouthwash in lieu of brushing.

For those people who brush on a regular basis and visit the dentist frequently, there may be no tangible oral health benefit for utilizing mouthwash.

Link May Exist Involving Tooth Loss, Memory Loss

Link May Exist Involving Tooth Loss, Memory Loss

Written by Dentistry TodayFriday, 21 June 2013 12:14

If you have trouble remembering things, there may be a reason.

New research shows that tooth loss may cause people to have memory issues. The researchers determined that people with fewer natural teeth don’t have the same ability to recall events as people with a higher number of natural teeth.

The information appears in the online publication the European Journal of Oral Sciences and was conducted by research teams in Norway and Sweden.

These problems stem from fewer signals being sent to the hippocampus section of the brain, the part responsible for memory. The impulses are supposed to be stimulated by movement of the jaw and teeth, but aren’t in these cases of memory loss.

The logic of this theory makes sense because with fewer teeth, the teeth and jaw are not moving as often.

Based on the research from the study, there’s a direct correlation between the number of teeth and the performance on memory tests. The way this was determined was from people recalling memories, certain information and facts.

The study included 273 people between the ages of 55 and 80. The average number of teeth per person was 22—10 fewer than the full amount.

People with most of their own teeth were 4 percent likelier to have a better memory than their counterparts. This number was determined based on numerous factors.

New Blood Test May Revolutionize HPV Diagnosis

New Blood Test May Revolutionize HPV Diagnosis

Written by Dentistry TodayTuesday, 25 June 2013 14:10

A new blood test may prove pivotal in oral cancer diagnosis.

This new test looks for antibodies in the human papilloma virus. These antibodies are associated with throat and mouth cancer and may eventually be used to pinpoint if the virus is present or not years before oral cancer would develop, according to the World Health Organization.

The WHO researchers proposed the idea that the blood test may give doctors the ability to screen for HPV, which would obviously lower the risk of developing oral cancer in the future.

The study appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Based on previous information, it was unclear whether or not antibodies were present in the bloodstream before cancer cells could be detected.

If the information from the study proves to be true, doctors and dentists would have the ability to pinpoint the patients most at risk. It would also be possible for screening devices to be developed to enable doctors and dentists to make an oral cancer diagnosis before the patient reaches the later stages of the disease.

Many previous studies have determined that HPV is a major risk factor for oral cancer and may be the reason why more young people are developing the disease. Smoking and drinking are some of the other risk factors. Throughout the world the amount of cases of oral cancer has risen drastically during the last several years.