Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) (Source: Orthodontics.net)

Well, that’s what I would like to call it. It is more popularly known as Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMJD or TMJ). I had been going through a lot of pain associated with opening and closing of mouth, eating, as well as waking up to a beautiful morning with – and here is the good part - a locked jaw. As trivial as it may sound, this particular disorder has made it’s presence known to over 10 million people in US. That is as common as a chronic kidney disease!

I had been researching on this particular disorder for a few weeks now and I cannot find any substantial research that has been done to prevent this condition or to cure it. According to the TMJ Association,

TMJ scientific research is still in its infancy. There is no coherent body of knowledge on the etiology (causes) and pathogenesis (disease progression) of TMJ diseases and disorders, and hence little in the way of evidence-based treatment guidelines

For the many that are not aware of this condition here are the specific details.

What is TMJ? 

It is a particular kind of facial joint disfunction. The joint is formed between the temporal bone and the mandibular bone - hence called the temporomandibular joint. Mandible is our lower jaw. Basically what happens is that joint is ruptured and that causes clicking in the bone (imagine a ball and socket joint if the ball doesn’t fit right and tries to move around the socket in a weird way causing the clicks). This makes it harder to eat. You always feel like your teeth are not “resting” well in a position. By that I mean, they don’t always have a perfect start or end position once you move your jaw around. You may keep grinding your teeth trying to find that well rested position.

It can also start right after you get your wisdom teeth, or at the end of or during orthodontic treatment i.e. braces. Braces and/or wisdom teeth move your teeth from their natural position and when they are off, teeth try to get back to their original position. Why? Because the original position is where the occlusion (or the how the upper and lower teeth “fit” together) is better. This kind of change makes your TMJ move around to find the best “fit” and this is what can cause it to rupture.

Is there a solution to this problem?

There are treatments available but there is no definite cure that I know of that completely eliminates the condition. One such treatment is an occlusal adjustment. Occlusion is basically how your upper and lower teeth fit together. An adjustment basically helps to find the correct “resting” position for your upper and lower teeth. This can be done by using a set of instruments to grind teeth in places where they hit each other strongly. Nightguards can be made to prevent you from grinding on teeth yourself.

More information can be found on the TMJ Association website.

I am going to track down any research I can find on this issue, and keep updating. =)

Like probably many of you, I was reading through some of Obama’s and McCain’s plans for the health care system. For those that are not aware of them, I found an article that pretty much covers what each candidate has planned for the future. It is definitely not an unbiased article as it is the opinion of the writer. If you can find one that is unbiased please post it. =)

My knowledge about the current health care policies are limited but I think Obama’s plans for US’s health care system has a better potential to make insurance plans more affordable than McCain’s. What do you think will work — further deregulation of health insurance companies, just like the deregulation of banks that contributed to mortgage and financial crisis, or increasing the competition between health care insurance and drug companies while closing loopholes to prevent few drug companies from exploiting the current system and in turn reducing the amount required for insurance?

This video created by CDC covers the serious attention that should be given by parents to ensure that their child gets these flu shots.

So besides children, who should get the flu shot?

This year, the CDC has expanded its recommendations to include kids aged 5 to 18 years. That means 86% of Americans are now supposed to get yearly flu shots (or sniffs of the newer intranasal flu vaccine).

And the rest of us, except those who can’t take the vaccine due to egg sensitivity or health conditions, are supposed to get the vaccine if we simply want to avoid the flu.

Flu vaccination is particularly recommended for pregnant women, people 50 and older, younger adults with chronic illnesses such as diabetes or asthma, health-care workers, people who come into contact with infants younger than 6 months, and people in contact with others at high risk of flu complications.

How many people in US actually take these shots?

The U.S. has 145 million doses of flu vaccine on hand this year. That wouldn’t be enough if the 261 million people who are supposed to get flu shots actually got them. But it’s far more than Americans have ever used before. Last year, we used 113 million of 140 million available doses.

Source: Saha

Soon there will be no shortage of platelets when needed. People with anemia and those undergoing chemotherapy will no longer need to wait for blood donations. And, by soon I mean after possibly many more years of testing and experimenting on the results of this new study.

The researchers in Japan found a way to create platelets directly from our stem cells. Earlier this couldn’t be done because they couldn’t create only platelets without the other components of blood. But, now they have found a way to do so successfully in mice.

However, these stem cells also give rise to other types of cells, which can quickly outnumber the platelets. The Japanese team solved this problem by starting with a stem cell population already committed to becoming platelets.

There was also another problem that was tackled very well.

The researchers also noted that platelets derived from stem cells often fail to form clots properly, a problem that can be caused by the presence of enzymes that shear adhesive proteins from the surface of platelets, which prevents them from sticking to one another or to blood vessel walls.

The Japanese scientists found that blocking these enzymes restored platelet function when the cells were placed in mice.

This study was conducted on mice but it still needs to be tested on people. Let’s hope it is as successful when used on people.

Oral Cleft; Source: Devos Children's Hospital

It is not breaking news that alcohol consumed during pregnancy can cause disorders in the unborn fetus. But, there are still women that don’t know and understand the risk they put their child in when they consume alcohol. According to a recent large-scale study conducted within a population in Norway, they found that alcohol binges by pregnant women can cause oral clefts in their children.

An oral cleft is basically when the lip and palate tissues don’t grow together during pregancy. The result is as seen in the picture above. Generally, this birth defect is treatable.

This study is significant because, until now, there weren’t enough studies and evidence to prove that the chances for oral clefts increases in women that consume alcohol early in pregnancy. They concluded that it was neither the frequency of drinks nor the total amount they consume during pregnancy but the amount of alcohol they consume in one dose. It is the alcohol content in the blood and the amount of time it stays in the blood that affects the fetus the most.

Are there still women that don’t know the consequences of alcohol consumption during pregnancy?

“Fortunately, heavy maternal drinking is uncommon in many populations, but the fact that it is happening at all tells us we need to do a better job of letting mothers know about the effects that alcohol can have on their baby’s development,” said Allen J. Wilcox, M.D., Ph.D., NIEHS researcher and co-author on the paper.

Sadly, oral cleft is not the worst disorder (caused by alcohol consumption) the child can be born with.

Alcohol is a recognized teratogen, or an environmental agent that can cause malformations of an embryo or fetus. One of the most severe outcomes of heavy maternal drinking is fetal alcohol syndrome, a lifelong condition that causes physical and mental disabilities, including craniofacial malformations. There has been little research to determine if alcohol consumption is related to oral cleft risk.

So ladies… no drinkin’ while carryin’!

The research mainly focused on studying the use of sesame seed extract and konjac gum to prevent Salmonella and E. Coli infection. According to the results these bacteria attach to the seed extracts and gums and prevent the bacteria from infecting our gut and causing a disease. Tomatoes were mentioned as one of the fibrous fruits that could help prevent this infection.

Dr Becker says that eating a diet full of these foodstuffs may offer protection from gastro-intestinal infections or reduce the severity of symptoms caused by E. coli or Salmonella.

Other foods that were shown to have a beneficial effect included yeast, tomato, and pumpkin.

Hmm, what I conclude from this study is that Salmonella can stick to tomato but it would probably not cause an infection. What do you all think? Could it be only certain strains of Salmonella that work this way? From the earlier posts it looked like the rare strain of Salmonella that supposedly infected tomatoes was proposed to enter tomatoes and thus be able to spread the infection. Is that what was happening? Any thoughts?

Tooth Tattoo: Sunshine in your smile! (Credit for image: Westbrook Dental)

Getting back to the article – The teeth tattoo is as easily put on as it can be erased. Very cool, huh?

Those who perceive having white teeth as “decent’ ‘ and anything else as “awkward’ ‘ would be amused to know that people spend Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 on teethtattooing . According to maxillofacial surgeon Dr Pooya, these tattoos can be retained as long as one wants and removed using special bur and polishing agent within two minutes.

It just seems like a waste of money to me. No one would even see it unless you had your smile plastered on you all the time! The article continues by listing the risks involved in getting one of these tattoos if it is not done correctly -

“The enamel of the tooth is a highly polished surface and if tattooing or stone-studding is not done professionally, it can cause dental caries around the margin of the teeth. But with good oral hygiene, this can be avoided. Repeated stone-studding on the same tooth, though, can damage the enamel,” says Dr K Nagesh, dental surgeon.

Hmm, I wonder if the chemical used to add tattoo’s on your teeth is completely safe. I couldn’t find decent literature on it but if dentists are the one’s applying the tattoo, it must be safe, right?

Okay, so I might be exaggerating it a little. We are not quite there … yet. One little piece of apple or an orange might not save you but a whole lot of orange or just a concentrated shot of Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, just might. It is still being tested, but here is what this research study found so far. They tested it on mice that were injected with cancer cells and grew tumors. Those that were given a concentrated shot of ascorbic acid grew the tumors at about half the rate than regular tumors.

When people were given high doses of concentrated forms of ascorbic acid they did have some side effects. So, the study is not complete yet but it does seem like a very good potential treatment for cancer.

The results show that high doses of injected vitamin C could be another weapon against cancer, the researchers conclude in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Levine speculates that a massive dose of ascorbic acid triggers a chemical reaction that produces high levels of hydrogen peroxide. Normal cells have enzymes and other mechanisms that prevent hydrogen peroxide from damaging them. But some cancer cells seem to lack those controls and die when concentrations of hydrogen peroxide are too high. Levine says potential to help treat cancer with minimal side effects makes vitamin C worth pursuing, in spite of the historical controversy surrounding the treatment.

A cell is programmed to kill itself when it is infected and can spread the infection. Blocking this part of the cell’s function means keeping the cell infected and alive and with the ability to spread the infection to other cells. Each of these infected cells can harbor thousands of P. gingival  and because of this pathogen their chances of apoptosis decreases gradually through the first 24 hours after infection.

P. gingival enters the epithelial cells of our gums. As soon as these cells detect the presence of this pathogen it starts the programmed cell death or apoptosis. DNA fragmentation is one of the actions induced by apoptotic machinery. The apoptotic machinery also includes molecules that will detect the cell’s condition and decide to either go on or prevent the act of killing itself. P. gingival increases those molecules that are anti-apoptosis and decreases those that are pro-apoptosis. This can also be detected by checking the DNA fragmentation which is present when checked immediately after infection but not detected 24 hours after infection. This shows that P. gingival stops the process of apoptosis.

Finally, this study had a very important future implication for cancer research. They found that P. gingival was able to stop apoptosis even if the infected cells were given a cancer chemotherapeutic agent called camptothecin. This finding along with the fact that it disrupts the normal periodontal health suggested that P. gingival can be associated with some form of oral cancer.

Reference: Inhibition of epithelial cell apoptosis by Porphyromonas gingivalis
FEMS Microbiology Letters, , Volume 200, Issue 2, 25 June 2001, Pages 145-149
Simin F. Nakhjiri, Yoonsuk Park, Ozlem Yilmaz, Whasun O. Chung, Kiyoko Watanabe, Azza El-Sabaeny, Kyewhan Park, Richard J. Lamont

This year the LA City Council has decided to ban NEW fast food chains and companies to open in one of the poorest areas of the city. According to them there are greater percentage of children obese in this area as compared to rest of the city. This effort is to help reduce the obesity percentage. This is great for improving their health – although if the fast food is not banned from other areas of the city or the places that already exist in the area, it doesn’t seem like a hard feat to get into those areas if you ever crave for some fattening treats – but what does it do to the economy?

The change would affect about half a million Angelenos living in an area that supporters say already has about 400 fast-food eateries and few grocery stores or other outlets for fresh, healthy food.

Is it worth all the economic loss? Imagine the amount of job loss they will go through if new businesses can’t open in the area. I think such kind of experiments should be kept for the well to do neighborhoods especially when people are poor and need those jobs! To keep them healthy the state can start some eating healthy campaigns with information sessions and eating healthy booths set up around the neighborhood.

What do you think?