It has been proven that HPV infection increases risk for various cancers, including oral cancer. Thanks to a new study we now know that 7% of American adults and teenagers have the HPV virus in their mouths.
This study may help us understand why the rates of one type of head and neck cancer, oropharyngea cancer, increased over 200% between 1988 and 2004. The study also showed that HPV is not transmitted through casual contact or kissing. The research was published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
HPV has been known as the cause of cervical cancer but can cause other types of cancer as well. The infection is extremely common – and it usually produces no symptoms and clears up on its own. Screening for oral cancers is more important today than ever before for adults of all ages.
In years past the typical oral cancer patient was an older man who smoked heavily and drank alcohol. Today the fastest rise in cases is appearing in young adults. Don’t forget to include an oral cancer screening in your next visit and talk to us about DNA testing to assess your risk for head and neck cancers.
For more information about oral cancer screening and to schedule your appointment please contact the office of Dr. Bernard Greenbaum in Bethesda, MD at 301-530-3600.
Every year there are certain trends that get talked about — it happens in technology, fashion and yes, even our health! The Values Institute at DGWB, a national research group, determined the following are going to be hot health topics in 2012:
Hot Health Topics
- Sleep – Study after study confirms the link between poor quality sleep with high blood pressure, heart disease, weight gain, depression and even sexual dysfunction. Anyone who snores loudly should be tested for a sleep breathing disorder such as sleep apnea to preserve their own health as well as the health of their bed partner.
- Flexitarian eating - This means that more American’s will enjoy a few more vegan or vegetarian meals each week for health purposes but still eat animal protein on occasion. Vegan and vegetarian diets can be excellent for gum health.
- Natural energy drinks - Instead of Red Bull or 5 Hour Energy, consumers will be looking for an energy boost from more natural ingredients like vitamins and tea extracts.
- Health Apps -Â Do it yourself health applications for smart phones and tablet computers can do everything from monitor your moles and blood pressure to scan your sleep for disruptions. Expect to see even more as the Apple App Store expects their offerings to increase to 13,000 in this category by the end of the year.
- Digital Motivation – Track your fitness with a gadget or commit to losing weight via a Facebook page where your friends can help lend accountability to your actions.
According to Mark Weisman of the Values Institute “These trends are consistent with the growing importance of health in America — if not yet as a daily routine then certainly as a primary goal in 2012 for three out of four consumers… Health is the new prestige barometer in the country — meaning that the great majority of Americans would rather be considered healthy than wealthy.”
Let’s add improving our oral health to the list above. In 2012 make a commitment to proper brushing, flossing and regularly schedule hygiene visits. Overall health begins with a healthy smile and sleep apnea dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum is looking forward to helping you make 2012 your healthiest year ever. Contact us at 301-530-3600 today to schedule your consultation
Women who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea and treated their disease reduced their risk of dying from heart attack or stroke. A new study from Spain looked at women with sleep apnea and how treatment affected their cardiovascular risks. Previous studies have confirmed that men with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
The study found that women with untreated, severe sleep apnea were 3 1/2 times more likely to die from heart disease or stroke compared to women without OSA. The study focused on treating the women using CPAP which uses a machine to deliver pressurized air through a mask to keep the throat open at night. Researchers found that using the machine for at least 4 hours per night reduced the risk for the women to equal that of patients without sleep apnea. Great news for those patients who can tolerate sleeping with a CPAP machine.
Sleep Apnea Help for CPAP Intolerant
The problem is that a lot of people can’t tolerate sleeping with a CPAP machine. They can’t find a mask that is comfortable, the tubing bothers them, they just feel claustrophobic… there are lots of reasons. For mild to moderate sleep apnea and for patients with more severe cases who are CPAP intolerant an oral appliance may be the answer.
A custom oral appliance is created in a lab and designed to gently hold your jaw in a position that keeps your airway open during sleep. No masks or electricity needed.
For more information or to schedule a consultation to see if you may be a candidate for oral appliance therapy to treat your obstructive sleep apnea please contact Bethesda, MD sleep apnea dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 today.
Here at the Bethesda office of Dr. Bernard Greenbaum we want patients to know that having a root canal is too important to joke about. Root canal therapy has been the subject of jokes about dental pain for many years. This is probably because many years ago it was not a pleasant procedure. Root canal therapy can stop the throbbing pain while saving the infected tooth and avoiding serious infection spreading throughout the body.
Good news — modern anesthetics allow this treatment with little discomfort.
“So what is a root canal and why do I need this procedure?” is a question I often hear.
Root canal therapy (also called endodontic therapy) deals with the inside structure of the tooth called the pulp. The pulp inside your tooth is made up of a complex of arteries, veins, nerves and lymphatic vessels. The pulp is what gives nourishment to the tooth from within keeping the tooth resilient and strong. The pulp of your tooth is also the part that feels the difference between hot and cold.
Problems with the pulp can start with bacterial infections caused by tooth decay, cracks in the tooth or trauma. The tissue in the tooth begins to break down and die and you begin to feel pain. At this point you can either remove the tooth or keep the tooth and clean out the pulp and replace it with a biocompatible sealer to fill the space — a root canal. Anesthetics ensure that you don’t feel discomfort during the procedure.
Dental pain in no laughing matter so please contact Bethesda dentist Dr. Bernard L. Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 today to schedule your appointment.
What is the secret to looking younger to others instantly? Smile. It seems that facial expressions such as smiling or laughing make others think we look younger than we are. No Botox or surgery needed.
A study published in Psychology and Aging reported that when people looked at pictures of happy faces they guessed a lower age for the person in the photo than in pictures of the same person with an angry or neutral expression on their face.
Researchers say that smiling has been shown to make people look more attractive, which may make them appear younger. This research gives us another reason to smile all day long… unless you are unhappy with the appearance of your smile.
Cosmetic dentistry can turn that frown upside down and give you the beautiful smile you’ve dreamed of. Perhaps your teeth have become yellowed or stained over time then a simple whitening procedure can restore your teeth to their youthful shade. The appearance of crooked teeth can be changed in just a couple of visits using dental veneers. Bethesda cosmetic dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum can also give you a complete smile makeover that is perfectly suited to your facial features and personality.
Please contact Bethesda cosmetic dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum today at 301-530-3600 to schedule a consultation to see how cosmetic dentistry can make you smile.
Please contact us today at today to schedule your consultation.Â
As a dentist treating sleep apnea patients in the Bethesda, MD area I usually ask all of my patients about their sleeping habits and if they have a sleep problem. A national survey asked the same type of questions and an astounding 99% percent of the people surveyed reported at least one sleep complaint even though they rated their own health as good, very good or excellent.
Over half said they didn’t feel as if they were getting enough sleep, 45% said they snore, 45% also said they suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness, 37% had trouble falling asleep and 12% knew that they stopped breathing or experienced gasping while asleep.
What is worse than the 99% number is the fact that only 24% had told their doctor about their sleep problem. The data from the survey showed that while 4.6% had received a sleep apnea diagnosis, 33% of the people actually had the signs of sleep apnea.
Living with an untreated sleep disorder such as obstructive sleep apnea can cause serious health problems including cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes and sexual dysfunction. Getting diagnosed and treated can drastically improve your quality of life and give you back the energy and pep that you thought was long gone.
If you snore, feel excessively sleepy during the day, have experienced weight gain or difficulty in losing weight or if you have been told to stop breathing during sleep you may have obstructive sleep apnea. To learn more about diagnosing your sleep problem and how your Bethesda sleep apnea dentist can help please contact Dr. Bernard Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 today to schedule your consultation.
Bethesda sleep apnea sufferers should be aware of the effects of sleep apnea on atrial fibrillation. Sleep disordered breathing such as obstructive sleep apnea has been shown to increase the risk of heart arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation (afib). A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology showed that the risk of having an abnormal heartbeat was 18 times higher immediately after an apnea episode compared to during normal sleep breathing.
Even more frightening, the sleep apnea did not have to be severe to raise the risk of afib. “Our focus was on individuals with mild to moderate apnea since it is those people we could compare periods of sleep where there were no apneas to periods where apneas occurred,” said coauthor Dr. Susan Redline of Case Western Reserve University. This work “underscores the tight link between heart disease and sleep apnea and the need to further evaluate the impact of sleep apnea treatment on reducing heart disease burden.”
Sleep apnea treatment is vital for maintaining a healthy heart. The gold standard for treating the disease is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), however studies show that about half of patients discontinue CPAP within one year and those that do continue average only about 3 hours per night. Another treatment that has been declared effective by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine but is not well known is oral appliance therapy available from a sleep apnea dentist who is trained in dental sleep medicine. An oral appliance is a small mouthpiece that is worn while sleeping and it works by gently placing your lower jaw in a position that keeps the airway open during sleep. No more blocked airway – no more apnea events.
To find out more about oral appliance therapy to treat your sleep apnea please contact Bethesda Sleep Apnea dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 today.
Bethesda cosmetic dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum realizes that almost half of American’s make New Year’s resolutions but most don’t stick with them. Dr. Greenbaum has a suggestion for a resolution that can keep your smile beautiful and your heart healthy at the same time and it doesn’t involve a treadmill.
Get your teeth cleaned on a regular basis! 
It sounds too good to be true but science says otherwise. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in America so prevention should be on your list of resolutions for 2012. Research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in November showed that people who had their teeth cleaned had a 24% lower risk of heart attack and a 13% lower risk of stroke. By removing inflammation-causing bacteria from your teeth you reduce your heart disease risk.
Visiting your dental hygienist for a professional cleaning keeps your teeth sparkling and healthy. During your visit you will also receivean examination to make sure that no problems have developed since your last visit.
Once your teeth are clean it is the perfect time for teeth whitening. You can choose from one-hour in office whitening procedures or custom take home kits made especially for you. A whiter, brighter smile is the perfect thing to start the New Year.
Please contact Bethesda cosmetic dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 today for more information and to schedule your next appointment.
Bethesda area college students are home for the holidays and many arrive home complaining of severe headaches. These headaches are typically diagnosed as migraines but that diagnosis may not always be correct. Many of these headaches may be caused by by unconscious grinding or clenching of the teeth — a condition known as bruxism.
Bruxism is very common. About 50% of adults will occasionally grind or clench their teeth and even children can suffer from bruxism. Because the muscles of the jaw are so strong this constant grinding can cause teeth to break or wear down and can cause damage to the jaw joint (temporomandibular joint). A common symptom of bruxism is headache pain. Other symptoms may include jaw or facial pain, stiffness or pain in the neck or shoulders, and even discomfort in the ears.
HOW NEUROMUSCULAR DENTISTRY CAN HELP
Bruxism may start with stress or anxiety — a typical part of any college student’s life. For other patients bruxism may be part of an underlying sleep disorder or a sign of temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Add in the poor diet, bad posture and crazy sleep schedules experienced by most college students and the fact that they have developed bruxism is not surprising.
Neuromuscular dentistry uses sophisticated jaw tracking software to find the optimal position for the jaw ensuring that the surrounding muscles remain relaxed and free of pain. For most patients a custom orthotic appliance is worn to help maintain the correct jaw position and protect the teeth from damage due to bruxism. Headache pain is relieved and future damage to the muscles and jaw joint can be avoided!
To find out more information about Bethesda neuromuscular dentistry and how it can help solve your headache pain please contact the office of Dr. Bernard L. Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 to schedule a consultation.
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Sleep problems or sleep disorders of some kind affect one-third to one-half of all Americans. The cost to society in lost productivity and accidents is huge as well as the toll these problems take on the patients and their families. Recently almost 5,000 police officers in the US and Canada were screened for sleep problems and about 40% of them tested positive for at least one type of sleep disorder. The most common was obstructive sleep apnea. 
Dr. William Kohler of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine stated “Police officers are obviously a very important group because they are there to protect us, and unfortunately, at times when they are distracted because of tiredness, they are at risk to themselves and others.”
Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with being overweight and about a third of the officers in the study had a BMI higher than 30. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the soft tissues of the mouth and throat relax during sleep and block the airway. The sleeper stops breathing for several seconds until the lack of oxygen causes a partial wakening to begin breathing again. The sleeper does not remember these episodes which can occur from a few to hundreds of times each night. The bed partner of the sleeper is also wakened frequently because of the loud snoring and gasping for breath that accompanies the disorder. Both partners feel exhausted the next day.
Untreated obstructive sleep apnea is associated with cardiovascular disease, stroke, weight gain and increased risk of accident. Treatment usually begins with CPAP but many patients find it difficult to tolerate sleeping with machines. Oral appliance therapy is proven to be an effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnea and is available in the Bethesda, MD area from Dr. Barnard Greenbaum.
Police officers are not the only ones that need a good nights sleep in order to perform their jobs. Contact us today at 301-530-3600 to schedule your consultation to see if you may be a candidate for oral appliance therapy.
