What are other gum diseasesymptoms and signs?

What are other gum diseasesymptoms and signs?

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A person with gingivitis will typically have one or more of the following:

• Red, swollen gums that bleed very easily, even during brushing or flossing
• A bad taste or mouth odor
• White spots or plaques on the gums
• Gums that look like they're pulling away from the teeth
  
  
  
  
• Pus between gums or teeth
• A change in the way the teeth fit together in the mouth, or spaces opening up between teeth
• Change in the way partial dentures fit

As gingivitis progresses (chronic gingivitis), the affected person may develop receding gums or areas where the root of the tooth becomes uncovered by the shrinking, diseased gums. Deep pockets may develop around the teeth that trap food, plaque, and debris. If gingivitis advances to periodontal disease, the person may lose gum tissue or bone around the teeth and the teeth may become loose or fall out. These changes can develop either very slowly or very rapidly and can affect either a few teeth or the entire mouth. If oral hygiene is almost never done or if the person becomes immune-compromised, acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis may develop (ANUG, formerly termed trench mouth). This is a painful condition where infected gums swell, ulcerate, and slough off dead tissue.

It is possible to have gingivitis and not notice any signs or symptoms, so regular visits to the dentist are vital in diagnosing the disease and taking steps in curing or reversing gum disease.

How is gum disease diagnosed?

The following methods and symptoms are very useful in the diagnosis of gum disease:

• Measuring the gums: A dentist or hygienist will use a periodontal probe to measure the depths of the pockets around all of the teeth in the mouth generally once per calendar year. Healthy gums will have pockets 1 mm-3 mm deep. Beyond that, the deeper the pockets, the more severe the disease.
• Taking X-rays: Dental bitewing X-rays will help show the level of the underlying bone and whether any bone has been lost to periodontal disease.
• Examining sensitive teeth: Teeth that have become sensitive around the gum line may indicate areas of receding gums.
• Checking the gums: A dentist or hygienist will look for red, swollen, orbleeding gums. 

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What is gum disease (gingivitis)?

What is gum disease (gingivitis)?

Gum disease, or gingivitis, is inflammation of the tissues surrounding and supporting the teeth and is most commonly a result of poor dental hygiene. Gingivitis is a very common condition and varies widely in severity. It is characterized by red, swollen gums that bleed easily when teeth are brushed or flossed. Gingivitis is not the same thing as periodontitis, although sometimes a person may be affected by both.

What is the difference between gingivitis and periodontal disease?

While gingivitis is inflammation of the gums around the teeth, periodontal disease occurs when the bone below the gums gets inflamed or infected.

Gingivitis starts as food debris mixes with saliva and bacteria-forming plaque that sticks on the surfaces of teeth. If dental plaque and tartar aren't removed by brushing with toothpaste and flossing, it can become mineralized and form tartar, or calculus. Tartar is very hard and can only be removed by a professional dental cleaning.

Both dental plaque and tartar are filled with harmful bacteria, and if they aren't removed from teeth, they will begin to irritate the gums and cause gingivitis. If left untreated, gingivitis will often extend from the gums to the bone and lead to periodontitis. When the underlying bone gets infected, it will start to recede away from the teeth and form deep gum pockets. These pockets collect plaque and bacteria as they are very difficult to keep clean, and more bone loss occurs. As periodontal disease progresses into later stages and more bone tissue is lost, the teeth may eventually become loose and fall out.

What causes gum disease?

What causes gum disease?

Gum disease is mostly caused by improper oral hygiene that allows bacteria in plaque and calculus to remain on the teeth and infect the gums. But there are other factors that increase the risk of developing gingivitis. Some of the most common risk factors are as follows:

• Smoking or chewing tobacco prevents the gum tissue from being able to heal.
• Crooked, rotated, or overlapping teeth create more areas for plaque and calculus to accumulate and are harder to keep clean.
• Hormonal changes in puberty, pregnancy, and menopause typically correlate with a rise in gingivitis. The increase in hormones causes the blood vessels in the gums to be more susceptible to bacterial and chemical attack.
• Cancer and cancer treatment can make a person more susceptible to infection and increase the risk of gum disease.
• Stress impairs the body's immune response to bacterial invasion.
• Mouth breathing can be harsh on the gums when they aren't protected by the lips, causing chronic irritation and inflammation.
• Poor nutrition, such as a diet high in sugar and carbohydrates and low in water intake, will increase the formation of plaque. Also, a deficiency of important nutrients such as vitamin C will impair healing.
• Diabetes mellitus impairs circulation and the gums ability to heal.
• Medications such as antiseizure medications promote gum disease.

Coming This Summer: A Blood Test That Predicts Breast Cancer

As a woman, mother of a teenager is always a concer prevent diseases and stay healthy. I think it is very good to know that science is progressing to prevent devastating events of cancer, specially breast cancer. 

A blood test to predict predisposition for breast cancer is a great thing! 

A new blood test will be able to accurately predict whether a woman will develop breast cancer within two to five years. Tests like this are in development for Alzheimer’s and heart disease, too. But would you want to know? 

Between Angelina Jolie and Rita Wilson, breast cancer has repeatedly been in the news recently — and both celebrities have stressed that early detection is key.

However, early detection methods for many forms of breast cancerhave been lacking (and prohibitively expensive) … until now. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have created a blood test that fairly accurately predicts whether a woman will develop breast cancer within two to five years.

Both Rita Wilson and Angelina Jolie have been instrumental in spreading the word that early breast cancer detection is key to survival; Jolie on genetic testing for the BRCA genes, and Wilson about getting asecond opinion on breast cancer tests.

According to the Susan G. Komenfoundation, there will be 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer this year and an estimated 40,290 women will die from the disease in 2015. Doctors have repeatedly stressed that early detection is key to giving patients the proper treatment and increasing their survival rate.

Scientists in this particular study based their research on a population study of 57,000 people followed by the Danish Cancer Society over 20 years. Study participants were first examined from 1994 through 1996 and provided blood samples that were stored in liquid nitrogen.

Scientists used the blood samples from 400 women who were healthy when they were first examined but were later diagnosed with breast cancer two to seven years after providing the first blood sample. They also tested their method against a different group of study participants from 1997 and found their results were the same.

“We are right in 80 percent of the cases,” researcher Rasmus Bro, PhD, tells Yahoo Health. “The 80 percent is on par with mammography, which is a much ‘simpler’ problem in that we are looking at whether persons arecurrently sick.”

The new test is different from others in that it measures multiple biomarkers in a healthy person to determine whether someone will develop breast cancer. Other tests look for single biomarkers, such as a mutation in the BRCA gene.

Findings such as Bro’s study are noteworthy because it increases the odds breast cancer will be detected early in a patient and effectively treated. “Since 1990, breast cancer mortality has declined by 34 percent due to early detection and effective treatment,” Susan Brown, RN, managing director of health and science education for Susan G. Komen tells Yahoo Health. “However, we know that mammography is not perfect. Promising research into emerging methods of early detection, including blood tests, may someday give women better screening options.”

While the findings are exciting, Bro says the method needs more testing before it can be released for public use. 

In the meantime, German health diagnostic company Sphingotec is planning to release two new blood tests to better predict a woman’s odds of developing breast cancer. The tests will help determine a woman’s risk of breast cancer, regardless of her genetic predisposition or possession of the BRCA gene mutation, by identifying the concentration of the peptides neurotensin (NT) and enkaphalin (ENK) in the blood, which are linked to breast cancer. These tests will be available for clinical use in the U.S. in a few months.

Studies on early diagnostic blood tests are happening for other diseases as well. Research is ongoing on a blood test to predict Alzheimer’s disease, and a studypublished last year in The American Journal of Cardiology found a test that may determine whether a patient will develop heart disease in the next 15 years.

But will people actually want to take these tests, knowing that the results may indicate they’ll have a serious health battle in the near future? According to licensed clinical psychologist Alicia Clark, PsyD, the tests may actually help a person’s anxiety about their health by giving them a sense of control.

“Knowledge of a coming disease — or its absence — can deliver awareness and control over precious time and decisions preceding the onset of a major health battle,” she tells Yahoo Health. “In determining how testing information can work for a patient, it is paramount that a patient feel a sense of control and autonomy me over the information.”

Unfortunately, Clark says there is no way for people to avoid the anxiety that may come with the choice to take a test or not, but therapy may be able to help someone cope with unfavorable results.

While Rasmus says he still doesn’t know what his findings will lead to, he’s hopeful that the future of early diagnostics will change, “not tomorrow, but in years to come.”

https://www.yahoo.com/health/coming-this-summer-a-blood-test-that-predicts-116561378642.html

Oral cancer prevention in younger ages

Vaccinating teenage boys against the human papillomavirus (HPV) could save millions of health care dollars by preventing head and neck cancer, according to new research.

Most know of HPV as the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer and genital warts, but it has been linked to a number of other cancers, including anal, vulvar and oropharyngeal cancer, which occurs in the throat, around the tonsils and back of the tongue.

Prior to the 1990s it was thought that head and neck cancers were primarily caused by smoking and drinking, but over the past 30 years there has been a sharp spike in these cancers in heterosexual males, leading experts to look for another explanation. 

Dr. Maura Gillison, professor of medicine at The Ohio State University, was one of the first to discover that HPV could cause cancers of the head and neck. She attributes the increase to "changes in sexual behaviors that started in the 1930s and accelerated in the 1960s-70s that largely affected the number of partners one had in their lifetime."

Currently, it's estimated that 70 percent of all head and neck cancers are caused by HPV, likely spread by oral sex. According to experts, by 2020 oropharyngeal will beat out cervical cancer as the most common HPV-related cancer.

"There is a strong gender difference," says Gillison — men are at a three to five fold increased risk compared to women. It gained national attention in 2013 when actor Michael Douglas announced that he was being treated for throat cancer, likely caused by HPV.

In the new study, published in CANCER, the journal of the American Cancer Society, researchers applied a statistical model to over 190,000 Canadian boys who were 12 in 2012, and found that vaccination could save anywhere from $8 to $28 million Canadian dollars over the boys' lifespan, depending on the efficacy of the vaccine and how many boys actually got vaccinated.

"We understand a model is just a model, so there are limitations, but our goal was to raise awareness and discussion," said Dr. Lillian Siu, study author and senior medical oncologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Center.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S. Experts estimate that over 80 percent of sexually active people will become infected, and the virus is often asymptomatic, meaning many spread the virus without even knowing they're infected.

There are over 100 types of HPV, at least 13 of which are cancer causing. The FDA approved vaccines—Cervarix and Gardasil — both cover strains 16 and 18, responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancers. Gardasil additionally covers the wart-causing strains 6 and 11. A new form of Gardasil, approved earlier this year, adds five new high-risk HPV strains to its coverage, for even more cancer protection.

The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend both boys and girls get the three-part vaccine at age 11-12, although it is approved for ages 9-26. For HPV vaccines to work, they should be administered before a person is exposed to HPV, the CDC says. That's why there's been a push for younger people to get vaccinated.

Despite this recommendation and numerous public health campaigns, there has been poor uptake in the U.S—only 38 percent of girls and 14 percent of boys had been fully vaccinated in 2013. Much of the opposition to the vaccine has centered around the fear that protecting young children against HPV could lead them to experiment with sex.

"We have to stop thinking about the STD…It is a cancer vaccine and people need to be referring to it as a cancer vaccine," says Electra Paskett, co-leader of the cancer control research program at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Paskett notes that in countries like Australia where cancer protection was emphasized, vaccination rates are upwards of 80 percent.

While still a champion of the cancer-fighting vaccine, Gillison raises some concern over the findings of this study, which are based on hypothetical efficacy rates, because while the HPV vaccine has repeatedly been shown to be highly effective at preventing cervical and genital cancers, there has never been a large, high quality study to prove that HPV vaccines can prevent cancer-causing oral infections. "The standard is to have clear evidence of efficacy from a prospective clinical trial," says Gillison.

Siu argues the study still has meaning.

"As a medical oncologist who sees the disease at the end of the spectrum, our question always is: Are there ways to prevent it? There is a vaccine out there and it's something we should look into. We can't always wait for randomized data," Siu said.

So what's the take away?

While it's unlikely that the HPV vaccine will be marketed as the "oral cancer" vaccine without further research, the fact remains that it already offers protection against cervical cancer, genital cancers and warts. And if there's a chance that it protects against head and neck cancers too, "that's a pretty amazing secondary benefit," says Gillison.