Perio pillow talk
What a fantastic piece of news with which to kick off 2013, that at last we can legitimately use sex as a motivator in oral health education. Well, for some patients anyway. Research in Turkey has revealed that in men aged 30- 40, 53 per cent with erectile dysfunction had inflamed gums compared with 23 per cent in the control group. So the message is clear, clean your teeth and gums or risk actually having to answer some of those email spam messages from overseas pharmacies.
Although the results were adjusted for factors such as age, body mass index, household income and education level, the men with severe periodontal disease were 3.29 times more likely to suffer from erection problems than men with healthy gums. While I don’t doubt the outcomes I can’t help making the connection between gum disease and bad breath and wondering if the ‘partners’ were so put off by the men’s halitosis that the whole deal just didn’t get going in the first place. It certainly brings a whole new meaning to pocket depth measurement.
Cycle lanes
With various changes due to take place this year in the public health arena, some disquiet has been voiced about the possibility that local councils who will be taking over the budgets may divert money into, say, cycling infrastructure. This is presumably on the basis that it would make us healthier and therefore less dependent on the NHS for care.
Like many such theories it seems fine on paper but has anybody thought about the dental implications? Surely a greater number of cyclists provide a statistically likely increase in dento-facial trauma through over-the-handlebars misfortunes? Consequently an increase in dental bills will follow and on possibly a grand scale, escalating up to implants for lost anteriors.
One answer might be to insist on mouthguards as well as helmets for our newly pedalling citizens, as well as knee pads to guard against grazing and wet weather gear to ward off colds and flu. On balance I think I’d prefer to walk to my GP.
Too good to be true
As the months pass and the constant stress of finding items to report in the Last Bite page begins to wear one down, there are occasions in a columnist’s life when items just fall into one’s lap. Two have blessed me in recent weeks.
Firstly a report into the unfortunate case of a dentist who had purchased cheap X-ray equipment from China which, as it turned out, was in danger of giving off up to 10 times the recommended level of radiation. A TV report said they were surprised that the dentist wasn’t able to see through it!
And finally, an article on one of the first women to graduate from a UK dental school was followed up by a letter to The Times from a former dean explaining that the fairer sex were not admitted to the school until the inception of the NHS in 1948. Which school? Well, Guys!
NOVEMBER WINNER
The winner of the November prize of Beverly Hills Formula products is Duncan Grant of London for the caption: "What I said was Seek Help as soon as possible for your tooth not Sea Kelp you idiot!"