When investigating natural healing techniques, one must frequently consult with two disparate camps: scientists and traditional healers. Generally speaking, scientists attempt to debunk or explain how a practice works (or doesn’t) via established mechanisms and objective data. Traditional healers tend to offer an alternative view about how the body functions and historical accounts of success. Related posts: Pilates Research Wheatgrass Juice Research Yogurt for Fresh Breath Flaxseed Research Dental Health Matters

Despite what doctors have been telling patients for the past few years, having gum disease does not make us more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, according to the American Heart Association . Treating gum disease does not appear to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease either. Cardiologists, dentists, and infectious disease specialists reviewed more than 500 studies addressing the connection between the two diseases. The results were published Wednesday in a statement by the AHA. The connection was made years ago when experts noticed that people with gum disease tended to have more heart attacks or strokes than people in better dental health. The thinking was that the bacteria causing the infection in the gums got into the blood stream and traveled to the fatty plaques in blood vessels where they attached and helped form blood clots which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. But the experts who reviewed the numerous studies say that though people with heart disease can certainly have periodontal disease, that gum disease does not necessarily cause heart disease. People with both conditions share many of the same risk factors or engage in the same behaviors and this may be why it was thought that there was a connection. Both conditions are tied to cigarette smoking, being overweight or obese, being diabetic and having high blood pressure. There’s a lot of confusion out there,” said Peter Lockhart, D.D.S., co-chair of the statement writing group and professor and chair of oral medicine at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The message sent out by some in healthcare professions that heart attack and stroke are directly linked to gum disease, can distort the facts, alarm patients and perhaps shift the focus on prevention away from well known risk factors for these diseases.” The American Dental Association agrees with the conclusions of the AHA and says in a statement: "Just because two conditions are associated with each other does not mean that one causes the other." While inflammation from gum disease can still damage blood vessels it's not actually causing heart attacks or strokes, researchers conclude. To reduce your risk for gum disease, heart attack, and stroke the advice doctors have been giving for years still holds. Brush your teeth twice a day, floss daily, eat a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly. Filed under: Dental health , Heart Tagged: Leslie Wade – CNN Medical Producer

A study published this week in the journal Cancer shows that people who have had dental X-rays are more likely to develop a type of brain tumor called meningioma than those who have not. This does not prove that X-rays cause tumors, but supports previous research about the connection. Dental X-rays have also been implicated in thyroid cancer . "It’s a cautionary tale … we do know that radiation can cause tumors, and we have to be judicious with its use," said Dr. Donald O’Rourke, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved in the study. Meningiomas are the most frequently occurring tumor in the head. They are located in the meninges, the tissues covering the brain. The vast majority are "benign" – or noncancerous – but, depending on their location, could cause blindness or other serious neurological damage. Those in the skull base are more difficult to remove in their entirety. Depending on the tumor, surgery may not be required. Dr. Elizabeth Brooks Claus, director of medical research at Yale University's School of Public Health, led the Cancer study, which focused on patients whose tumors required surgery. The patients were mostly Caucasian because of the regions from which they came; Claus' group plans a follow-up looking at more African Americans, who have a statistically increased risk for meningiomas. The average age of the 1,433 patient participants was 57, which means their exposures to dental X-rays were likely of a higher radiation doses because of older technology, Claus said. But they ranged between 20 and 79 years old, and came from select parts of the United States. Researchers also looked at data from 1,350 people with similar characteristics who had never had a meningioma. The meningioma patients had more than a two-fold increased likelihood of having ever experienced a dental X-ray test called a bitewing exam. Depending on the age at which the exams were done, those who'd had these exams on a yearly basis, or more often, were 1.4 to 1.9 times more likely to have had a meningioma. Four of these X-rays is about the same amount of radiation you're exposed to in a typical day: .005 .millisieverts, according to the American College of Radiology . Panorex exams, which involve images of all of the teeth on one film, were also linked to meningioma risks. If study participants had panorex exams when they were younger than 10 years old, their risk of meningioma went up 4.9 times. One of these around-the-head X-rays carries about twice as much radiation as four bitewing X-rays. "My impression is that people get more dental X-rays more frequently than the American Dental Association says," Claus said. For an adult without cavities and no increased risk for cavities, who is not new to his or her dentist, x-rays are recommended every two to three years. For a child without cavities who's not at increased risk, the interval is every one to two years, according to this chart from the Food and Drug Administration . There's currently a low threshold for dentists to order dental X-rays, says Dr. Keith Black, director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study. Even if X-rays are not necessary for a procedure, dentists often request them as part an annual exam. Black hopes dentists will pay attention to this research linking the X-rays to brain tumors. There are important uses for dental X-rays in making decisions regarding certain procedures. But if the teeth are otherwise healthy, Black recommends against the radiation. There is a latency period – a lag time – of about 20 to 25 years with meningiomas induced by radiation, O'Rourke said. Only about 1% to 5% of meningiomas are cancerous, but in people with known increased radiation exposure, that risk can go up, he said. But Dr. Otis Brawley, Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society, which publishes the journal Cancer, points out that the study relied upon individuals' memories of how many dental X-rays they'd had, including in childhood, so there is room for error in that regard. And, again, it does not prove that X-rays directly cause tumors. There are, however, estimates that up to 1% of all cancers in the United States are due to medical radiation, Brawley said. In response to the study announcement, the American Dental Association also mentioned the study's reliance on individuals' memories. "Studies have shown that the ability to recall information is often imperfect," said a written statement from the ADA. "Therefore, the results of studies that use this design can be unreliable …" The ADA also pointed out that the study included people who received dental x-rays decades ago from older technology that exposed them to more radiation. "The ADA encourages further research in the interest of patient safety," said the statement. If you've already been getting annual dental X-rays, there's nothing you can do to mitigate whatever risk you already have. But Black said this research is important to keep in mind when making decisions in the future, and for children. Filed under: Brain , Cancer , Dental health Tagged: Elizabeth Landau – CNN.com Health Writer/Producer

Rick Morris is one of seven CNN viewers participating in the CNN Fit Nation Triathlon Challenge . He quit smoking on an episode of "Sanjay Gupta, M.D." and has been smoke-free since. About two months ago, I quit smoking. At the time there were many reasons influencing my decision to finally choose a smoke-free lifestyle. I was worried about my health. I had high blood pressure. My doctor and everyone I knew was encouraging me to kick the habit. My family history is one of lung cancer and diabetes. The list goes on and on. Now that I've been without tobacco for the past couple months (63 days, to be exact), I've noticed some changes in the way I'm living. All are positive and are in direct relation to my body's depletion of those nasty chemicals I've called friends for the last 12 years. So I thought I would list those changes and explain how I have been affected by each. Though my list is restricted to 10, it is by no means an exhaustive one. 1. No more chronic cough: All smokers know what "smoker's cough" is. I didn't realize how annoying this was until I stopped coughing all the time. After about a week being smoke-free, I noticed I didn't have to clear my throat every few minutes. I recall plenty of times when I was at a function or meeting and needed to cough so badly, but couldn't because I knew it would be rude and interrupting to those around me. It's like an insect hovering in your throat – not touching, just drying everything between your tongue and your stomach – and you can't do a darn thing about it. 2. The smell: I didn't know I smelled so badly until I was around other smokers. Their clothes, home, car, even their pets reek! About a week after I smoked my last cancer stick, my daughter and her boyfriend, a smoker, dropped by for a visit. Their dog always peels for the door and makes it into the house first. Yeah, I actually smelled the odor of cigarettes coming from the dog. 3. No more cleaning butts: I swear that cigarette butts would multiply when I wasn't looking. I once placed a butt can out back on the patio and initially used it as intended. Pretty soon, I was too lazy to walk down the steps to the can and just started flipping cigarette butts out into the yard, in the area of the butt can (as if I were shooting a jump shot). I rarely scored. Eventually, they were lying everywhere. So much that I would just wait until the weekends to "clean" them with the leaf blower. Nasty, nasty, nasty! 4. It's just an extra $200 per month: Really, the extra money wasn't even noticed, as I can easily spend that on a night grilling on the patio (I love king crab and filet mignon, and only the finest Belgium beer!) So I really didn't look at this as a true benefit of not smoking. But, with the price of cigarettes reaching about $6 a pack in my area – and up to $11 in other areas of the nation – I discovered this adds up. And, it was clear the price of tobacco was just going to continue to rise. So, I got out my calculator. $6 a day multiplied by 365 days in the year. Comes out to $2,190. Looking at this long term, that's about $122,000 over the next 56 years (when I turn 100). Assuming cigarettes continue to increase in price at the present rate, then it's easy to see that number growing to half-million dollars. Invested wisely, I'm sure I can leave someone a big, fat payday! 5. Lost productivity: Sure, we all need a break or two during the work day. But I realized I was taking about 20 of these 5-minute breaks. In all honesty, each was probably about 10 minutes. About two-thirds of my breaks were when I was at work (I have a home-based web development business). So, that's more than 2 hours of breaking as opposed to working. How in the world was I getting my work done? I have since realized that I wasn't. 6. Food tastes much better: I don't know if it has something to do with a cleaner mouth, but food simply tastes better. I also find that I use less salt. I've heard on several occasions that if one quits smoking one gains weight, but I would warn people from using the weight-gain excuse as a viable argument when attempting to become smoke-free. Trading one bad habit for another isn't the way to go. 7. Non-smoking or non-smoking?: I think the air-line industry coined the phrase: "Smoking, or non-smoking?" And, I think it was the first group to eliminate cigarette smoking from a certain area (the airplane). Today, it's almost preposterous to think we once smoked during an international flight on a 747! "Non-smoking or non-smoking?" seems to be the rhetorical, unasked question wherever you go these days. It's understood. There will be no smoking here, or here, or there, or over there, or in there, or… well, you get the point. Unlike the Golden era of the 1920s and 1930s, when smoking was an upper-class hobby, a smoker's world is an unfriendly one today.Since the airlines quit asking that redundant question, smoking has been eliminated from virtually all public places. Restaurants, high-school football games, town parks, even bars and drinking establishments have become smoke-free. For smokers, drinking a beer without a cigarette is like playing pool without a beer! Whether smokers realize it or not, the very fact that one uses tobacco limits them in myriad ways – especially socially. I don't have to worry about that anymore. 8. Dry, sticky contact lenses: As a wearer of these miracle discs of ocular health, I know what smoking does to your contact lenses. Smoke makes them dry. They become cloudy and you're constantly rubbing your eyes. Eventually, your lenses get to the point where you must get them out. Fortunately, I wear disposable contact lenses. All I had to do was pop in a new set. But, at a couple dollars per lens, this was costing me. How to solve this annoying problem? Quit smoking! 9. Physical appearance: In the few months I've not smoked, I can tell my overall physical appearance has improved. My skin isn't dry and wrinkly. My bit of gray hair is actually going brown. My self-confidence in speaking directly to someone isn't hindered by my desire to turn at an angle because of smoker's breath. 10. Bye, bye yellow teeth: No matter how hard I brushed or swished fluoride, I couldn't seem to keep perfectly white teeth. "It's because you smoke," my dentist proclaimed. "And, unless you do something about that, your dental health will continue to deteriorate, thus affecting your overall health." Bad teeth can lead to serious health affects throughout your body. Yesterday I had a cleaning at the dentist, and plan to keep my teeth white and healthy from now on. You can follow CNN Fit Nation on Facebook and Twitter . Filed under: 2012 Fit Nation Triathlon Challenge , Rick Morris Tagged: Rick Morris – Fit Nation Participant

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease that, as it’s name implies, affects tissue in and around the oral cavity – the esophagus, gums, palate and tongue. In most cases, it is a chronic condition that manifests itself in patches, rashes or sores that may or may not be accompanied by burning, pain Related posts: International Herbal Medicine Preventing Colorectal Cancer Naturally? Vitiligo Alternatives Urinary Incontinence Alternatives Osteoarthritis Alternatives

Among the trends spotted at this year’s Natural Products Expo West, was an attempt to make dairy or dairy-alternatives accessible to virtually everyone. To that end, some manufacturers catered to consumers who prefer organic over conventional milk. Other products offered vegan versions of cheese, milk and even yogurt. There was cream on top or unhomogenized Related posts: Natural Products Expo West 2011 Part Two Natural Products Expo West 2010 Natural Products Expo West 2011 Part One Natural Products Expo West 2012 Part One Yogurt News You Can Use

You slip under the covers, turn off the light, and rest your head on your pillow. Seems simple and perfect, but here are some things you could be doing in bed that harm your health. Grinding your teeth: Formally called sleep bruxism, many people unknowingly clench their jaw or grind their teeth at night, which can lead to tension headaches, earaches, irritated tissue on the inside of your cheeks, jaw pain, and permanent damage to your teeth in the form of chips and worn-down enamel that cause sensitivity or cracks. Stress can be a factor, so reducing the amount of worry in your life can help. If it doesn’t, see your dentist about designing your own personal mouth guard to sleep with. Not exactly the sexiest thing to wear to bed, it’s sure to offer you a more restful and less painful night of sleep. Sucking on a cough drop: If you suffer from a chronic cough, cold or sinus infection, or postnasal drip, sucking on a cough drop every night may be the only way you can get some sleep without coughing keeping you up. Although soothing to your throat, exposure to a bath of sugar all night long is sure to lead to tooth decay and cavities. Here are other natural remedies for your nighttime coughs . If the cough persists, it’s time to see your doc. Keep reading to find out what else you’re doing at night that’s wrecking your health.

Each year, nearly 20 million men, women and children in the United States fail to see a family physician or similar health care professional, but they do pay at least one visit to the dentist, according to a new study in the American Journal of Public Health. For this segment of the population, dentists may be the only doctors in a position to spot the warning signs of chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, and provide referrals or advice to prevent serious complications, says Shiela M. Strauss, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and an associate professor at New York University's Colleges of Dentistry and Nursing. Oral or dental abnormalities can signal a broad range of body-wide health problems, including HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, eating disorders, and substance abuse, in addition to diabetes. In a previous study, for instance, Strauss and her colleagues found that 93% of patients with gum disease (such as gingivitis) also met the criteria that should trigger blood-sugar screening under American Diabetes Association guidelines. Health.com: Signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes "I'm not advocating for dentists to become general health care providers," Strauss says. But, she adds, dentists can easily measure blood pressure and administer simple screening questionnaires – both of which could potentially make a big difference to the health of someone at risk for diabetes who hasn't seen a doctor recently. In the new study, Strauss and her team analyzed data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a nationally representative government-sponsored survey of health care use. In 2008, the researchers found, roughly one-quarter of adults did not see a physician, nurse practitioner, or other general health care provider – but of that group, 23% did see a dentist. The pattern was similar among children. It's not clear what's leading these people to see a dentist but skip medical care. Most of the adults – and nearly all of the kids – had health insurance, so lack of coverage can't fully explain it. In fact, the authors note, the dentist-only group was "quite diverse" ethnically, socioeconomically and geographically. Health.com: 20 things that can ruin your smile It could be that dental problems – unlike some chronic diseases – are often too painful to ignore, Strauss says, or it could be that dentists are simply better than doctors at reminding patients when it's time for a checkup. Getting dentists in the habit of screening for health conditions will probably require changes to dental-school curricula, the researchers say. However, dentists and dental hygienists are typically already trained to check blood pressure and conduct other types of general medical screening. Health.com: Natural ways to lower blood pressure And while they might be hesitant to take on more patient responsibilities, Strauss says, doing so may have unexpected benefits. She points to the experience of some Swedish dentists who participated in an insurance plan that required them to implement diabetes screening for their patients. "The reputation got out there that these were dentists that really cared about the patients," she says. "It was an initial investment of a bit more time on the part of the dentist, but it reaped great rewards for them in terms of growing their practice." Filed under: Dental health , Health.com Tagged: Anne Harding – Health.com

Lisa Shives, M.D., is the founder of Northshore Sleep Medicine in Evanston, Illinois. She blogs regularly on The Chart . Read more from her at Dr. Lisa Shives’ Sleep Better Blog . Zach was a life-long teeth grinder. “It seemed that as soon as his teeth came in, he started grinding," his mother told me. It was so loud and frequent that Zach was given his own room because his little brother couldn't get any sleep when they shared. For years he had slept at the end of the hall far from his parents’ and his brother’s room, so one suspected that the grinding was getting worse. When a dentist noticed a progressive worsening of wear on his patient's teeth, he discussed his concerns about a possible underlying sleep disorder with both Zach and his mother. They then came to me. Sleep-related bruxism is the official term for grinding your teeth during sleep. It occurs in approximately 14% to 17% of children, although these rates decrease with age. Bruxism does show a familial pattern but no genes have been identified. It affects both sexes equally. Nocturnal grinding can cause not only extensive wear on your teeth, but also jaw and facial pain, headaches, and when it is severe, it can cause sleep disruption that results in daytime drowsiness. There are two types of bruxism. If there's no clear cause, bruxism is termed "primary." Secondary sleep-related bruxism has been associated with various other disorders, as well as the use of psychoactive medications and recreational drugs. An overnight sleep test is not always necessary. However, a careful evaluation by a sleep specialist is warranted if, as in this case, the grinding is becoming worse rather than better with age. Bruxism must be distinguished from partial complex seizure, facio-mandibular myoclonus and sleep disordered breathing. Often, grinding can be an accompanying feature of obstructive sleep apnea and confusional arousals, and it can improve with treatment of the underlying sleep disturbance. Even in the absence of a clear psychiatric or medical cause, sleep specialists often note heightened stress and anxiety as a predisposing factor. Some specialists have found an association with a Type A personality or someone who is hyper-vigilant and easily aroused from sleep. In Zach’s case, we figured out that he did have a lot if increased stress due to his busy academic and extra-curricular schedule. He was also worried about getting into a good college and was working around the clock to assure his success. He was stressed in the daytime and it carried over into his sleep. We ruled out any other sleep or medical problems. His dentist made him a bite guard to protect his teeth at night. He and his parents worked on simplifying his schedule, ensuring adequate time for sleep. They also talked a lot more about his college application process which, Zach admitted, really made him feel less alone and less anxious about the outcome. Filed under: Dental health , Lisa Shives M.D. – sleep expert , Sleep Tagged: Lisa Shives M.D. – sleep expert

Happy Halloween, everyone! For parents, this holiday may seem especially spooky when it comes to kids' teeth and weight. But here are some tips to keep your little treat-or-treaters in good health: 1. Chocolate is the best option for kids' teeth. It melts quickly, it's swallowed easily, and it contains tannins, compounds that don't allow bacteria to grow. And, at least it has some nutritional value. The worst options are candies that are very hard or chewy. The longer it takes to eat a candy, the more opportunity there is for sugar to coat teeth. Kids with braces should especially avoid candies that are hard and crunch, or soft and chewy. Sanjay wants candy 2. Twice a day, and particularly at night, your child should get into this teeth cleaning routine: (a) floss, (b) brush, (c) use a fluoride rinse. That's because flossing loosens debris from in between teeth, and the toothbrush gets the excess on the surface. The rinse gets back in the crevices and fights decay. 3. Don't let kids snack on candy in between meals. Instead, bundle it together with healthy meals – for example, at the end of dinner. This prevents kids from eating too much at once. 4. When it comes to monitoring your children's eating habits, Halloween isn't that special. You should make sure they have nutritious, balanced meals and stay active throughout the year.