Hygiene Care Guide

Dental implants are a remarkable advancement in dental research. They resemble natural teeth, are extremely sturdy, require the same maintenance as natural teeth and often can last a person’s lifetime. Dental implants are defined as “permanent fixtures of titanium posts anchored to the jawbone and topped with individual replacement teeth or a bridge that screws or cements into the post.” Dental implants got their start in Sweden but the technology and materials that are being used in North America today have been successfully used in European countries for the past thirty years.

The success rate for both upper and lower implants is extremely high. For instance, lower implants have the highest success rate at 98 percent while for upper implants it is 91 percent. However there are some adverse effects that are associated with dental implants although the good news is that there is not that many. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Sometimes dental implant surgery fails because of bacterial contamination that is to be found at the site of the implants. If the area is not adequately cleaned beforehand then this is likely to occur. In order to decrease the chance of infection occurring following the surgery, patients are often prescribed one or a variety of prophylactic systemic antibiotics. The use of antibiotics in some individuals can cause its share of adverse effects ranging from diarrhea and vomiting to more serious allergic reactions that require immediate medical attention. With the use of antibiotics comes a concern about bacteria that is antibiotic-resistant. Tests are ongoing to determine to what extent antibiotics are necessary where dental implant surgery is concerned. This issue is somewhat of a controversial one as some patients seem to benefit from the use of antibiotics after surgery while others find it a hindrance to healing and ushers in a host of other adverse side effects. Some researchers believe that prophylactic antibiotics are very effective in reducing the incidence of dental implant failures while others are still not sure. New research into these health issues is being undertaken all of the time.

Some individuals are more likely to develop infections after surgery than are others because of a comprised immune system or a metabolic disease, such as those with diabetes. Other people prone to infection following surgery include people who are at risk of, or who have a past history of, heart related infections (or endocarditis) and those who have had radiotherapy either in the area of their head or neck. Patients with any of the above conditions are often administered preoperative antibiotics before the dental implant surgery is undertaken.

Other adverse effects of having dental implants placed in one’s mouth include the discomfort, bruising and swelling that often occurs afterwards. No two people have all of the same adverse effect postoperative but most people will experience a small extent of at least one of them. Sometimes the dental implants do not integrate to a patient’s mouth. This is another way of saying that the surgery can be a total flop. The failure of surgery can depend on a number of factors but the most common ones have to do with the type of implants that are used as well as the general health of the patient getting the surgery. As a general rule, the better health a person is in, the more likely that the surgery will be a success.

Stephanie Dilson is a Dental Surgeon and in her spare time runs an informational site on Dental Implants for all those interested in the process to find out valuable information on the cost, benefits, risks and features of this increasingly popular procedure. For more information see http://www.dentalimplantsguide.com

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Compared with the way things used to be, we have it so very soft today. It’s easy to take our modern conveniences for granted. We can fill our days with leisure, bustle around in comfy autos, work only 40 of the 168 hours in a week, chat with therapists, read philosophy, shop for unnecessary stuff to clog our closets and garages, climate control our dwellings and complain about the softness of our mattresses.

In the year 1000, even when agriculture had been around for some 10,000 years, life was entirely different. In Anglo-Saxon society, a precursor to the modern West, the possibility of famine was ever-present and memories of the last one made dread and fear a part of everyday life. Looming natural disasters were constant specters.

Domiciles were not the neat and clean hygienic environs we experience today. They did not smell of disinfectant or exhaust from engines wafting in the windows, but the exhaust from every manner of farm creature and humans always hung in the air. Manure was everywhere with each one having its characteristic bouquet of fragrance. The human nose in the year 1000 could certainly not be so prissy as ours today.

Latrines were located at or near the back door and moss was toilet paper. Flies filled the dank and earthen floor homes where there were few if any hard surfaced utensils and there was no understanding of disease vectors or antiseptic. If you dropped food on the filthy floor, you picked it up and ate it with relish. Five baths a year for monks was thought to be fanaticism by Saxon standards of personal hygiene.

In time of famine, their law code permitted fathers to sell their sons aged seven or above into slavery. Infanticide was not a crime. Communities of 40 or 50 starving emaciated people would join hands at the edge of a cliff and jump. Some chronicles report that “men ate each other.” They would comb the forests for beechnuts overlooked by the wild pigs and would grind acorns, beans, peas and tree bark into a flour to bake as bread. Hedgerows were scoured for paltry herbs, roots, nettles and grasses. “What makes bitter things sweet?” asked a Yorkshire schoolmaster. “Hunger.”

A “crazy bread” of ground poppies, hemp and darnel gave our poor starving ancestors some relief with visions of paradise. Molds that laced the rye that was aging contained a variety of mycotoxins (and lysergic acid [LSD], the psychedelic drug of the “60s) that could not only make people appear mad but would severely weaken the immune system, permitting disease to run rampant. (Note that the cause of the great plagues and epidemics was not the disease agent, but the fragile or non-existent immune system of the starving and poisoned host.)

The church would help allay the pain by harnessing hunger to spiritual purposes. Lent made virtue of necessity, coming as it did in the final months of winter when barns and larders were growing empty. Feast and famine were linked to spiritual purification and gave meaning to hardship as well as hope for better times.

July was particularly tough since the spring crops had not matured and the barns were empty from the previous year’s harvest. Starving was common in the balmiest month of the year when so much toil in the fields was necessary.

Every single hour of the August harvest month was filled with urgency, since everyone knew from the pains of July what was in store for them next year if they did not fill their larders now. Work was not a right, a place to lobby for benefits and ease. It was a life and death struggle.

The contrast between then and now is astonishing. They were on the verge of starvation; we are fighting an epidemic of obesity. They might have to subsist for months on potatoes or stale bread; we have a glut of food options at our instant disposal. They had shortened life spans and were highly vulnerable to injury and disease. We live longer but suffer cruel lingering degenerative conditions.

It is clear from a realistic view of times gone by that it was not the advent of modern medicine that brought relief, it was, as I mentioned in a previous article on SARS, it was the plumber bringing public utilities and with that the possibility of hygiene and the trucker distributing food supplies that brought us our present long lives.

For them it was a daily struggle for survival. Necessity and muscle ruled the day. It was the physical stress of enduring cold, harnessing 8 oxen to a plow to break new soil, hand harvesting and making their own way every moment of the day. It was the true helplessness and victimization (unlike modern day contrived social “victims” clamoring for rights and handouts) from floods, droughts, winds and rain that could wipe out their only hope to avoid starvation in the coming year. For us it is a surfeit of choices requiring intellectual decisions - decisions that make the difference between whether we experience full health or its slow insidious ruination by mindlessly partaking of every offering that promises yet more ease and flavor just because it is there.

Dr. Wysong is a former veterinary clinician and surgeon, college instructor in human anatomy, physiology and the origin of life, inventor of numerous medical, surgical, nutritional, athletic and fitness products and devices, research director for the present company by his name and founder of the philanthropic Wysong Institute. He is author of The Creation-Evolution Controversy now in its eleventh printing, a new two volume set on philosophy for living entitled Thinking Matters: 1-Living Life… As If Thinking Matters; 2-The Big Questions…As If Thinking Matters, several books on nutrition, prevention and health for people and animals and over 15 years of monthly health newsletters. He may be contacted at Wysong@Wysong.net and a free subscription to his e-Health Letter is available at http://www.wysong.net.

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You’ve got to be kidding! You, a post surgical patient, did not receive basis hygiene therapy during the first three days of your hospital stay? How could that happen? Wasn’t anybody looking out for you?

Message? If you must be in a hospital for any length of time, make certain there is someone, family or friend, who frequently and unpredictably visits you to watch over your care.

When you are the patient, it is difficult to monitor your own care. You may not be fully aware of what is going on around you due to medications or the nature of certain procedures.

It is best to have a specified person who agrees to be responsible for overseeing the care that you receive during your hospital stay. Mistakes do happen, AND you can easily be charged for care that you did not receive. Sadly, these mistakes occur all the time, and the omissions and/or commissions can be, sometimes extremely, injurious to your recovery and future health status. That’s a huge consideration.

When an acquaintance was moved from the recovery room to his hospital room, there was no customary hospital tub, with the basic equipment for personal hygiene. It was not brought until the third day of his stay. Most hospitals have the filled tub in the room when a patient arrives. The specified overseer can make certain it is available. You may be charged for it whether or not it is in place.

Visitors would not be likely to ask about baths; it’s not the usual topic of conversation with a patient. Yet, close friends and family should check on basic activities of hygiene.

In the case mentioned above, the hospital’s patient advocate reported two bedside baths (with the missing tub?) during the first three days of the patient’s stay. But, according the patient’s medical record, these would have had to occur on the same day. With this error, imagine the cost of treating infections.

Did you know that you can access your Medical Record? Many people do not know that this record is available to the patient. There may, or may not be, a fee to obtain this document, but a patient should know about his or her care in the hospital. . . and question this care.

The staff members at many hospitals are extremely busy during hectic times, often not available. It’s a good idea to quietly record the time it takes to answer the alarm call whatever the circumstances. And inquiring about patient care can serve as a reminder to them of needed tasks, such as bathing, medications or feeding/dietary requirements. Such inquiry can also point out deficiencies in care.

While some physicians and staff welcome such inquiries, others may be more reluctant or downright resentful of your overseer’s input. Regardless of their response, your advocate shouldn’t be shy about asking. Maintain a professional demeanor but do ask. You deserve the best of the costly care, even if the hospital staff has to be reminded to get it. A timely question can help the patient avoid the negative consequences, both physical and financial, of inadequate care.

You can also have a detailed hospital bill rather than just a summary. This should be checked as best you can. There could be errors as a friend found when his newborn daughter was charged for the circumcision. Hello!

So, line up your family members and friends who want to do something for you and ask them make regular and unpredictable visits often to monitor your care. Assign one particular person, if possible, to receive any reports of unusual occurrences and to record them. You will, then, have a document should you later need to appeal your medical claim. It beats the “I said, you said” game!

After fighting her own health insurance company, Leland Draper founded The Draper Forum to assist clients as an advocate for Georgia citizens regarding medical insurance. She deals with claims departments and agencies, overseeing claims, including Medicare, Explanations of Benefits, and supplemental policies. On behalf of the client, she copes with physicians’ offices, service agencies, hospitals as well as auxiliary labs and services. She provides this service for her clients because managing, on your own, the chaotic muddle of bills and insurance paperwork is emotionally exhausting and can affect recovery.
Ms. Draper can be reached at http://www.thedraperforum.com and at mld99@juno.com.

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