Today’s Options for Denture Wearers
With more than 12 percent of the U.S. population at the age of 65 or older, the “baby boom generation” is tackling issues about aging. The focus is not so much about how to accept an aging body passively, but rather, how to preserve health, strength, and vitality, no matter what a person’s age.
For example, the Academy of General Dentistry has reported that 60 percent of the American adults between the ages of 35 and 44 have lost at least one permanent tooth. Your dentist want you to maintain healthy teeth throughout your life. But if tooth loss requires dentures, your dentist have several attractive options for you.
Types of dentures
Depending on your situation, dentures may be needed to replace all or some of your teeth. Different types of dentures serve different purposes.
Immediate dentures are placed immediately after removing any remaining teeth. These have the added benefit that you have the look and use of teeth while your mouth heals, making your transition to dentures more subtle. However, your jawbone and gums will gradually shrink after teeth are removed, so you will need to be fitted with conventional dentures later.
Conventional full dentures replace all or most of your upper and lower teeth. They are custom-crafted and fitted over a series of appointments to ensure an excellent fit and natural look. Your dentist will provide you with homecare instructions and have you come in for periodic adjustments or relines to ensure that your conventional dentures continue to fit properly and feel comfortable.
Overdentures look like conventional full dentures. However, overdentures fit over dental implants or a few specially prepared remaining teeth. Overdentures are more secure and feel more natural than conventional dentures. Also, the implants or remaining teeth provide stimulation that can help preserve the bone in your jaw.
Partial dentures may be a good choice when you have lost several teeth but still have some remaining. Partials help to prevent your existing teeth from shifting within your mouth. In turn, the remaining teeth support the dentures and help take the impact of biting and chewing. This reduces the pressure on other parts of your jaw.
Conventional partial dentures have clasps to attach them to your remaining teeth, while precision partial dentures have special attachments that make the clasps less visible. Another option may be a flexible partial denture; these gum-colored clasps attach around your teeth at the gumline for a very natural look.
Benefits of dentures
Dentures are important both for your oral health and the attractiveness of your smile, because they:
Provide the necessary support to keep your facial muscles from sagging and giving you an older appearance.
Allow you to eat a wider variety of foods than you could without teeth; this helps ensure that you get adequate nutrition to maintain your health.
Help you to speak more easily than you could without teeth.
If you have been hiding your mouth because of missing teeth, dentures may help improve how you look and feel about your smile.
Alternatives to dentures
Other options to consider besides dentures may include bridges (sometimes called fixed partial dentures) or dental implants (which are surgically placed below your gumline, providing an invisible and secure fit). Your dentist will work with you to determine the best solution for your needs.
Keep in mind, the best alternative is to not need dentures at all. With consistent and regular dental care, you may be able to preserve all your healthy teeth, so that you can keep them throughout your lifetime.
For information, contact Dr. Nguyen at
The Case for “Change” in Employee Wellness Programs
“75% of health care spending pays for illnesses which are preventable”.- Centers for Disease Control
Four of the leading causes of death in the nation—heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease —are directly linked to unhealthy lifestyles and tobacco use. Encouraging individuals to adopt healthy habits and practices may reduce the burden of chronic disease in communities throughout the United States. Public and private efforts and programs are increasingly designed to promote these healthy behaviors and lifestyles. Employers are becoming more aware that obesity, lack of physical activity, and tobacco use are adversely affecting the health and productivity
of their employees and ultimately, the businesses’ bottom line. As a result, innovative employers are providing their employees with a variety of work-site-based health promotion and disease prevention programs using health coaches and the “trans- theoretical theory of change” approach to wellness. These programs have been shown to improve employee health, increase productivity and yield a significant return on investment for the employer.
What is a Health Coaching Program?
Health coaching programs help people make smart choices about health behaviors through education, motivation and reinforcement of healthy options. Taking the time to build a rapport, assess readiness to change, identify areas of need and to create an action plan, leads to a healthier outcome. Research proves that this personalized, collaborative approach is more effective than the cookie-cutter method that often leaves those most at risk far behind.
Health Coaches typically are licensed, degreed healthcare professionals that have made the choice to work one-on-one with their clients, outside of the typical “medical model”; empowering them to make long-term healthy changes by building solid skills that will last a lifetime.
Wellness Promotion
Employee wellness education is the starting point of prevention. It is about encouraging individuals who have demonstrated the behaviors of healthy living and providing them with the tools and support they need to stay fit, manage stress and continue to make good health decisions. Programs often include initiatives such as health risk assessments, on-site screenings, preventive care reminders, health club memberships, and financial incentives.
By promoting healthy behaviors, employers can reduce overall healthcare costs and absenteeism as well as support a “culture of health” and wellness.
Health Improvement Plans
Health improvement plans are about identifying high-risk factors, and preventing or slowing disease progression and encouraging individuals through education and one-on-one behavioral health coaching to begin altering their risky actions.
The types of behavioral-related high-risk factors addressed by health improvement programs include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, tobacco cessation, and weight management. Individuals with known or potential health conditions may be aware of elevated risks but have not found the motivation to change. They haven’t experienced any major hospitalization or serious complications – yet. However, without some form of intervention, their conditions will likely progress to a much higher-cost, productivity-limiting chronic disease.
Disease Management
The goal of disease management is to empower individuals to effectively manage disease and prevent complications through adherence to medication regimens, regular self-monitoring of vital signs and healthful diet, exercise and other lifestyle choices by education, support and encouragement of both the physician and the health coach.
For employers, the cost of chronic disease goes far beyond the direct costs of healthcare and medical expenses. Absenteeism due to lost wages amounts to $65 billion annually for American companies. This cost is compounded by the impact of lost productivity due to workers who are limited in the amount or kind of work they can do, which can be as high as 34% of the total workforce. Disease management programs have proven to not only control health benefit costs but also improve the overall health and productivity of workplace environments.
The founder of Monarch Health Promotions, Michelle L. Taylor has been in the healthcare industry for over 14 years in Tucson, Arizona.
After suffering from severe asthma throughout her life, she is especially committed to respiratory disease prevention and management services. She also believes that the psychological and social burdens of chronic illness can be minimized through patient, caregiver and community education.
Michelle is a registered respiratory therapist, a nationally certified asthma educator, and a certified tobacco cessation specialist, as well as a certified health coach. She has collaborated with The American Lung Association, The American Cancer Society, and The University of Arizona as a speaker, volunteer, and an educator in her chosen field.
Michelle has also worked in specialty pharmaceuticals for many years, educating area hospitals, pulmonologists, allergists, neurologists, anesthesiologists, and psychiatrists on the best pharmacological
choices and treatment options available for their patients.
monarchhp.com monarchhp.com
Burn Treatment and Classification
Everyone has endured a burn sometime in his or her life whether it was a sunburn or you burned yourself on the stove. No matter where you got it, burns can be extremely painful. Easing the pain comes with knowing how to treat the specific burn, the different degrees of burns and knowing when you need professional medical treatment.
There are different causes of burns such as electrical, radiation (i.e. the sun), chemical, and heat. Severity of burns is noted by age of the victim (children or the elderly), location (head, genitals, neck, hands, or feet), if the burn has more than one body area of coverage, the depth of the burn, and burns that cause difficulty in breathing. Electrical, explosive, or chemical-related burns are also considered more severe in nature.
There are three burn classifications: First-degree, Second-degree, and Third-degree. First-degree burns are surface burns that are painful but will heal quickly (5 to 6 days) with no scarring. These burns can be treated by running cool water on it and letting them heal on their natural course.
Second-degree burns have swelling and blisters; these blisters may open on their own but should not be popped. If they open, place loose bandages on the affected area.
Third-degree burns are the most severe with deep damage done not only to the skin but also to the muscles, fat, bone, and nerves. If the nerves are burned, there won’t be any pain but, if they haven’t been, the pain will be excruciating. This type of burn needs medical attention immediately.
All burns, except electrical ones, need to be cooled with lots of cool water; Either by running the affected area under the faucet in the sink, tub, or outside hose, or, on larger areas, using clean wet cloths. Keep the cloths wet and cool. Never use ice directly on skin as you could cause frostbite. Don’t rub the burned area with the cloth; just lay it on the burn. Also, never put salves or creams on the more severe 2nd and 3rd degree burns because it can seal in the heat.
After cooling the area, loose, clean cloths or bandages should be placed on the burns to keep out infection. If clothing has melted onto the skin, don’t attempt to remove it-that is a job for the medical professionals. Seek medical treatment immediately!
Remember to play it safe to avoid burns especially within the home since most general accidents happen here. Be smart when you’re out in the sun. We may not think that a sunburn can be severe but, if you’ve ever seen or had a nasty one, you know how painful they can be. The proper UVA and UVB sunscreen and UV protecting sunglasses will help curb bad burns and sun damage.
Taking the proper care when treating burns and getting medical help when needed will not only allow burns to heal faster but also lessen the risk of infection.
Tina Seay is the author and webmaster of LearnSomethingToday.com LearnSomethingToday.com a website that promotes quality of life, ForTheCatLover.com ForTheCatLover.com a website for cats and the people who love them and YourWeddingStory.net a site that helps the whole bridal party get ready for a dream wedding. Her goal is education and to help others achieve a happy healthy lifestyle.
10 Easy Weight Loss Tips
What is the secret to losing weight? Carefully monitor what you eat and expend more energy than you consume. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? However, if losing weight is really that simple, there would not be so many overweight people.
Obesity is quickly becoming an epidemic in this country. Why has it become such a problem? Too much stress, too little exercise, poor eating habits and a rushed way of life are all contributing factors. Losing weight is NOT simple.
What can you do in order to be successful at weight loss? Try the easy, but effective, tips listed below. They will help you lose weight in a healthy way and keep it off.
1. EAT AT LEAST 5 SERVINGS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES EVERY DAY. Eating vegetables in their most natural state (raw) is more nutritious for your body but cooked vegetables are fine, too. If it is a struggle to get that many fruits and vegetables into your daily diet, try vegetable soups or fruit smoothies made in a blender.
2. EAT ONLY WHEN HUNGRY BUT NEVER SKIP A MEAL. Eating increases your metabolism so eat four or five small meals every 3 to 4 hours. Your most important meal of the day should be breakfast. Eat protein, whole grains, fruit and vegetables.
3. CUT OUT WHITE FOODS (sugar, flour, bread, donuts, crackers, etc.). They raise insulin levels, protecting your stored fat instead of burning it off. If you have these foods lying around in your kitchen, get rid of them! They will only provide temptation for you.
4. DRINK LOTS OF WATER, at least 8 glasses a day, instead of soda or other sweetened beverages. Water flushes out the system and eliminates harmful toxins. It forces the body to run more efficiently, speeds up metabolism, and makes it easier to lose weight and burn fat.
5. ALWAYS EAT YOUR MEALS SITTING DOWN at the kitchen/dining room table. NEVER eat in front of the television. This leads to overeating because you are not paying attention to what you are putting into your mouth.
6. DO NOT RESTRICT YOUR FOODS TOO MUCH. If you do, you will become bored and frustrated by your limitations causing you to revert back to your former eating habits.
7. EAT SLOWLY. Chew your food completely to decrease your appetite. Put down your fork/spoon after every bite. This will help you realize when you are full.
8. DO NOT EAT AFTER 7:00 PM. If you absolutely cannot abstain from eating, indulge in a piece of fruit or a cup of herbal tea.
9. EXERCISE EVERY DAY – sorry, but you have to! However, you do not have to kill yourself. The easiest exercise that will benefit anyone regardless of their fitness level, that can be done inside or outside, is walking. A brisk walk can burn as many calories as jogging, but does not have the risk for injury that jogging does. The only equipment needed is a good pair of shoes. If you do not want to walk alone, find a friend to go with you.
10. GET AT LEAST 8 HOURS OF SLEEP EVERY NIGHT. This is very important for your body.
Is losing weight simple? No, but by following the tips listed above, you will be engaging in a lifestyle that will enable you to lose weight and keep it off.
Chris Chenoweth, author of the money-home-biz.com DO-IT-YOURSELF HOME, HEALTH & MONEY GUIDE, writes articles pertaining to diet, exercise, health, and business