What is a Root Canal?

January 7, 2011 by Miranda Laranjo  
Filed under Wellness

When you are told you need a root canal, it is generally because the nerve in your tooth has been damaged and is starting to die, or in some cases has slowly gone bad over time. This can happen due to decay in the tooth that has reached the nerve, or trauma from a blow to the tooth or in an accident where the tooth has been hit. Also sometimes a tooth can develop a crack that can reach the nerve and allow bacteria from your mouth to enter through the crack into the nerve and cause it to go bad. Many times there is pain, or sensitivity to hot or cold things during this degenerative process, but not always.

When you have a root canal done, we are actually removing that diseased and degenerating nerve tissue from the middle of the tooth. If not removed it can cause an infection to develop that we call an abscess. This can be very painful and cause swelling that must first be treated with antibiotics before the root canal can be done. A key factor in having this be a comfortable and uneventful procedure is to have the tooth relatively calm and comfortable before you begin.

The nerve tissue enters the tooth through a small opening at the tip of the root. It extends up the root of the tooth through one or more small canals and ends in the crown of the tooth in an enlarged area we call the pulp chamber.

To remove the nerve we make a small opening through the biting surface or back of the tooth that extends into the pulp chamber. We then use a series of files that extend down each canal to the small opening where it enters the root. Sometimes these files are manipulated by hand and sometimes we use a drill to advance the files through the canal until we reach the end. In this way, we clean out the nerve tissue and shape each canal so it is shaped like a small funnel or cone. We use different chemicals and medications in the tooth as we are using these files to help us clean out all the nerve tissue and to sterilize the canal space.

After these cleaning and shaping steps are done, we use small sterile rolled up pieces of paper that we call paper points. These are place in the canals in order to absorb and dry any moisture in the canals for the cleaning steps.. After drying, the canals now need to be filled and sealed. To do this, we use a small rubber-like material called gutta percha in a tapering shape that corresponds to the size of the files we used to clean each canal. These gutta percha points are coated with a sealing cement and extended down each canal to the tip of the root where the nerve entered the tooth.

This procedure allows you to save your tooth. With the newer filing techniques in use today, there is much less stress placed on the tooth and that makes the procedure quicker and more comfortable for you both during and after the procedure. I have found in my practice that if we control any existing infection prior to the root canal procedure, my patients rarely complain of any significant pain either during or afterward. I don’t routinely need to prescribe any pain medecine because people don’t need it. They can usually just take over-the-counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Motrin), or aspirin.

So in conclusion, if you are told you need this procedure done on a tooth, it is nothing to dread. The large majority of root canals are now accomplished quickly with little or no discomfort.

Nature’s Cures for Bv - The Leading Treatment Solution

December 5, 2010 by Mia Pilgrim  
Filed under Health

Doctors know of merely one strategy to combat Bacterial Vaginosis infection, by prescribing antibiotics. And sadly, this problem will come back almost every single time. When physicians recommend prescription medication for you, the struggle ends for merely a short amount of time. The reason being that your system is not generating the natural antiobiotics it requires when you finally stop your prescription medication. Can you imagine if there would be a natural remedy for bacterial vaginosis that truly cured it forever.

Now, I will present a few tips which may help with your bacterial vaginosis. I am going to provide a url to one other web page that provides tons of information about lasting natural treatments for bacterial vaginosis infection.

Strategies that you should try at home totally free:

1. First you need a bottle of vinegar. Pour about 1/4 cup right into a cup. You need to thin it down the vinegar by adding an equivalent part of water, but the pure cider vinegar is perfectly safe. Now get into your bathroom and apply the solution to the external areas of your vaginal area. Try not to get any inside, this can irritate the much more sensitive areas. This quick fix can eradicate any irritation, smell or yucky feelings.

2. Try eating ordinary probiotic yogurt. No, this kind of natural yogurt is not bad, its full of beneficial bacterium that your vagina must have to combat bacterial infections. You can also apply some of the natural yogurt directly to your vagina in order to speed up the procedure. If it is overly yucky to perform, you can just stick to eating it. Several women have actually found this method to be a natural and effective treatment for bv.

3. Do not put on panties that aren’t allow air through or are too tight. 100 % cotton will work great simply because it soaks up moisture and also is breathable. The harmful germs Gardnerella in the genitals spreads rapidly in an oxygen low environment. An overgrowth of Gardnerella generally means Bv.

Monthly Breast Self Exam

November 26, 2010 by Christina Francis  
Filed under Health

Healthy Changes Through Life: Doing a monthly breast self exam is the best method to stay familiar with the cyclical changes in your breasts. You’re going to get to know the territory better than your health care team, and can spot changes easily. Through an annual clinical exam helps document your breast health, so keep a regular appointment setup for that!

Between puberty and menopause, your breasts will go through many changes, which are affected by hormones, diet, and exercise. Many of these changes are natural and healthy!

Teen Years (Puberty): In the teen years, with the start of your monthly cycle, the body enters the maturing process, and also you gain curves and may notice skin changes (for example acne) as well as hair may change color or texture. Breast tissue is developing during this period too, and could be dense and firm to start with, particularly if you are small-breasted.Family Resemblance: At this time, it’s not too early to understand your family health history, so ask your female relatives (mother, aunts, grandmother) if they had any fibrocystic problems with their breasts, or any regular cysts. If that’s the case, it’s likely that you might experience those too. Not to worry - cysts are benign - but you wish to know where they’re, and when they come and go, to allow them to be distinguished from other features in your breasts.’

More Curves and Kids (Childbearing Years): After the body is prepared for motherhood, if you conceive and bear children, and also if you breastfeed the children, which will cause more changes in your breasts, as well as in your body. Breasts can become larger and much more tender during pregnancy, and could require more support. Don’t neglect your BSE during this time, stay acquainted with the changes. Keep in mind that pregnancy and breastfeeding will help combine to reduce your risk of cancer of the breast.

Maturity (Menopause): Menopause also brings alterations in your breasts, as your estrogen and progesterone levels drop, your breast tissue may become less firm and may drape differently than during your teen and child-bearing years. Keep up with your breast self exams in these years too, so the normal changes are conversant for you. Less dense breast growth will seem to have more bumps and lumps, but remember that 90% of breast lumps are benign.

How To Reduce Excess Weight And Keep It Off By Way Of Gradual And Painless Adjustments

November 24, 2010 by Cynthia Burgenstein  
Filed under Diet & Fitness

If you are overweight, like most people today, then you may be interested in a way to lose weight. Of course, many people who are technically overweight, according to medical guidelines, have no problem at all with their weight. This article is for those of us who’d like to lose a couple pounds or more.

Any kind of big life changing goal like weight loss requires a solid plan. Just wishing for the pound to go away won’t usually work. And the first step is to choose a specific goal. How much do you want to lose, and when do you want to lose it? Don’t shoot too high, but don’t shoot too low, either. Try for about two or three pounds per week, for however many weeks it will take.

Next, is to make a subtle change in your eating habits. If you try and change too quickly, you won’t likely keep your new eating habits for very long. If you rely on willpower, you will likely fail. Most people can only generate enough willpower to last a week, at most.

First, start to avoid bad carbohydrates like sugar or bread. These are quickly stored as fat if you eat too much. And many of these foods, although they taste delicious, go straight to your hips. Better carbohydrates would be brown rice, wheat or grain bread, and brown pasta.

Also you want to eat healthy fats, instead of not healthy fats. This means avoid saturated fats, which are found in most fried foods. Healthy fats are found in food like avocados and olive oil.

And if you want to really turbocharge your plan, add in some exercises. Again, just like changing your eating habits, its better to go slowly. That way you can build up some powerful momentum. If you start too fast, you’ll likely burn out, or get discouraged and quit.

A combination of a healthy eating habits along with exercise can pack a powerful one two punch. And when you add these slowly into your routine, you will be amazed how quickly they became natural and normal for you, which of course will make it simple to lose that weight.

How One Can Combat Menstrual Cycle Problems

July 17, 2010 by Dr Paul Johnston  
Filed under Health

When discussing women’s issues, first and foremost that comes to mind is the problems connected with their menstrual cycles.

A lady begins to menstruate in a mode of cycles of 28 to 30 days from the moment her system starts bearing eggs, which consists of flow of blood coming exactly from her vagina. As both the sperm and eggs are not united resulting to no conception, these eggs pass out from uterus and come out of the vaginal opening. It becomes easy for a women to count the date of her menses and plan things.

While every female is conversant with this fact of life, they have to take care that unwanted pregnancies do not happen, and teenage pregnancies are completely avoided, because this will have an effect on the health of a maturing woman both physically and psychologically. Unfortunately this natural cycle of menstruation has its own problems, which women have to face willy-nilly.

Though the present generation is very well aware of the problems concerned with women’s health, and the role of nutrition in this respect, which have been well documented by pharmaceutical circles, unfortunately not much is known how natural products which are around us can help in regulating the menstrual cycle.

The usual disorders in women can be identified as missed menstrual period (amenorrhea), periods which are symptomatic of heavy or long discharge (menorrhagia), conversely very light discharge (hypomenorrhea), undetermined intervals (oligomenorrhea) apart from extremely painful periods (dysmenorrhea).

Women suffer from a number of problems including amenorrhea, problems connected with D&C operations, dysmenorrhea, late periods, and Fibroids.

Most women suffer from Premenstrual syndrome or rather pain just before their menstrual cycle. During menstruation sometimes women have headache, cramps, back pain and tender-breast. These are generally caused due to hormonal changes and the changes that take place while omitting the uterus lining. Below are some natural remedies which can be very helpful to reduce these problems-

1. If you take a capsule of Black Cohosh which is a good remedy, for both pre and post menstrual problems, it helps by imitating estrogen in your body. It can stop hot flushes, get rid of depression problems.

2. Licorice Root - It is one of the traditional herbs of ancient china. It helps treating female reproductive issues.

3. The usage of Vitamin C boosts iron content and eliminates problems connected with lack of iron in the body. Daily dosages of nutrients, minerals and vitamins, can help reduce pains associated with periods; maybe a multi-vitamin and mineral table can help.

4) Flax seed- To cure hormonal problems flax seed can be very useful.

5) Stop Alcohol - Alcohol enhances any problem so it is important that you stop drinking alcohol. Try to content yourself with just light wine.

6. Tea, herbs and others - Tea is very effective specially one that is made of Red Raspberry. Drinking two cups of this tea can decrease menstrual flow and regenerates your uterus. To get rid of cramps it is important that your nerves and pulses are calm. So eat lot of pulses, fruits, vegetable oils and nuts and seeds that produces lot of nutrients. Shepherd’s purse is an excellent herb to reduce heavy menstrual flow.