New Insight on the Microbiota Of Severe ECC

Not so long ago, the researchers at The Forsyth Institute, made an incredible discovery concerning the nature of childhood dental disease. Thanks to scientific studies by Anne Tanner, BDS, who identified a new pathogen, related to severe early childhood caries (ECC); the progression of disease may now be intervened with and even halted. This bacterium, "Scardovia Wiggsiae," was present in the mouths of children with severe early childhood caries even considering the fact that there were no pathogens like Streptococcus mutant(s) detected.

Your Child's Bright Smile: Precautions

"It's crucial for parents to make good dental health a central component of their children's lives," explains Robert Shechet, D.D.S., Director of Dental Programs for Health Net, Inc. "What many people don't realize," he adds, "is that youngsters who don't receive proper dental care can develop into adults with poor dental health. Poor dental health can lead to heart attacks, strokes, premature or low-weight babies, diabetes complications, and other serious medical issues."

"Good dental health also extends to protecting youngsters' teeth when they're playing sports, and even when they're engaged in recreational activities such as rollerblading or snowboarding," says Health Net's Shechet.

Dental School Warns Of Potential Zinc Hazards for Patients

In accordance with a report by Amar Patel, DDS, Residents and Colleagues at the University of Maryland Dental School, dentists have to pay more attention to potential hazards of exposing patients to zinc; which actually is a common ingredient of a lot of dental products.

Amar Patel stated that "Of direct concern to dental professionals ... has been the recent discovery of neurological disorders resulting from excessive use of denture adhesives, having highly transmittable zinc contents which can cause copper deficiencies."

Dentists Urge Patients to Quit Smoking

Recent research shows that after some dentists got tobacco cessation training, they were about twice as likely to counsel patients to quit smoking.

The research was performed by the researchers from the New York University College of Dentistry. The study involved six different dental clinics at the college, the first thing the researchers did was to look at nearly 700 patient charts in order to see if dental health professionals were asking patients about tobacco use and offered help in quitting.

Stress May Contribute To Risk for Tooth Decay

In accordance with a new study in young children, certain social and psychological factors increase the risk of tooth decay. The study was performed by the researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada, who for two years, had been keeping track of 132 kindergarten children, among whom about a half had tooth decay.





Decay was linked with three factors: