dental-health

Greg Mottola, a Consumer Retention Manager at Health Alliance Medical Plans, joins us to discuss the importance of dental care and how to find attainable dental coverage.

Researchers from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry and their colleagues have discovered details of how proteins produced by oral epithelial cells protect humans against viruses entering the body through the mouth. They also found that oral bacteria can suppress the activity of these cells, increasing vulnerability to infection.

A family of proteins known as interferon lambdas produced by epithelial cells in the mouth serve to protect humans from viral infection, but the oral bacteria Porphyromonas gingivalis reduces the production and effectiveness of those important frontline defenders.

Dr. Juhi Bagaitkar and Dr. Richard Lamont, professor and chair of the UofL Department of Oral Immunology and Infectious Disease, led the work, with first author Carlos J. Rodriguez-Hernandez and other colleagues at UofL and at Washington University in St. Louis. The findings were published in December in PNAS.

Emily Hahn D.D.S shares the importance of teeth brushing, when your children should start brushing their teeth, and how sweets and treats affect your children's teeth.

ECMC Dentistry, Oral Oncology and Maxillofacial Prosthetics provides a wide variety of services. With a large dental clinic in the main hospital, general dental care and emergency treatment are both available.

Dr. Maureen Sullivan, Chief of Department of Dentistry in the Division of Oral Oncology & Maxillofacial Prosthetics, discusses services and the treatment team at ECMC, including oral cancer diagnosis and maxillofacial prosthetics post-op.

Many people have dental emergencies. How well prepared are you?

Here are some quick tips for common dental emergencies.

• Loose braces bracket: Apply dental wax to the edge. Make an appointment with your orthodontist to repair during office hours.
• Braces wire irritation: Apply dental wax or cotton swabs to make the area comfortable until your orthodontist or dentist can examine.
• Broken tooth with root: Clean it off and have it placed back in the socket within 45 minutes. Preserve the tooth in milk or saliva. Get to a dentist or the emergency room immediately.
• Pain, blood or swelling: These indicate a true dental emergency. Call your dentist right away.
• Loose crown: Call your dentist to arrange re-cementing. 
• Broken filling: Call your dentist to arrange replacement.

Going to the emergency room for a non-urgent matter will be expensive. It’s wise to wait until your dentist’s office hours for anything that doesn’t have pain, blood or swelling.

Listen as Dr. Karson Kupiec joins Melanie Cole, MS, to advise on how to handle dental emergencies.