Health Tip: Cracked Tooth?

(HealthDay News) -- Sharp pain when you bite down on a piece of food may signal a cracked tooth.

Here are common causes for tooth cracks, courtesy of the American Dental Association:

Chewing or biting foods like hard candy, nuts, or ice cubes.
Injury to the mouth.
Grinding or clenching your teeth.
Chewing unevenly.
Loss of parts of the tooth, often from fillings or wear.
Procedures like root canals that cause teeth to become brittle.
Teeth being exposed to extreme temperatures, such as from eating very hot foods or drinking ice water.

Despite Dentists' Urging, Many Don't Take Proper Care of Teeth

(HealthDay News) -- There's limited evidence that so-called behavior management techniques help dentists convince patients to brush and floss their teeth properly.

That's the conclusion of British researchers who reviewed four previous studies that included a total of 344 people with periodontal (gum) disease.

In one study, patients attended five 90-minute groups sessions about proper care of their teeth and gums, while two other studies required patients to meet with psychologists to discuss periodontal care. In the fourth study, patients called or visited a periodontist twice a week.
The review authors noted that there were flaws in how these studies were conducted, which made it difficult to draw any firm conclusions.

"We need better-quality trials assessing the effects of psychological interventions to improve people's oral health. I also think we need broader research on the benefits of the application of psychological theory to dentistry, as I believe it has a great deal to offer," review co-author Dr. Peter Robinson, professor of dental public health at the University of Sheffield in England, said in a prepared statement.

"Dentistry has worked really hard at trying to educate patients to get them to change behaviors, but we have been a bit old-fashioned. We have tended to think that if we give people information, their attitudes and behaviors should change. In fact, people can change a little, but those new behaviors are difficult to sustain. We have a lot to learn from psychologists and other experts in the field if we really want to help people," Robinson said.

The findings are in the journal The Cochrane Library, published by The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research.

More information
The American Dental Association has more about oral hygiene.

Change of Season Brings Lawn Mower Warning

(HealthDay News) -- Each year in the United States, about 9,400 children are treated for lawn-mower related injuries such as lacerations, fractures and amputations of the fingers, hands, toes, feet and legs, say experts at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

"The No. 1 advice to parents is: Treat the lawn mower as hazardous equipment, not a toy. You don't let a child play with an electric saw, and that's exactly what a lawn mower is," Carol Gentry, pediatric OR nurse manager, said in a prepared statement.

Of the lawn mower accident cases treated at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center between 2000 and 2005, 95 percent involved amputations that required reattachment or reconstructive surgery.

The Hopkins experts offer tips for preventing mower-related injuries:
Children younger than age 6 should be kept indoors while a power mower is being used.
No child younger than age 12 should use a walk-behind mower.

Children under age 16 should not be on riding mowers, even if they're with an adult.

If you're mowing and see a child running toward you, turn off the mower immediately. Children can fall and slip into the blade, especially if the grass is wet.

Wear protective goggles and closed-toe shoes when operating a mower or when near one.
Before mowing, clear the lawn of debris such as sticks and stones, which may get caught in the mower blades and be propelled out.

If someone suffers a mower-related injury, call 911 immediately and apply pressure to the wound to stop bleeding while you wait for an ambulance.

Buy mowers with a no-reverse safety feature that requires the operator to turn around and look behind before shifting the mower into reverse.

Smoking May Be Risk Factor for TB

(HealthDay News) -- Smoking may increase the risk of tuberculosis, say researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, who analyzed data from 24 previously published studies on the subject.

The meta-analysis found that, compared to nonsmokers, people who smoked were 73 percent more likely to become infected with TB and more than twice as likely to develop active TB.
Overall, smokers are 40 percent to 60 percent more likely than nonsmokers to develop TB after being infected with TB bacteria, the researchers said.

The findings were published in the Feb. 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

About a third of the world's population is infected with TB bacteria, usually rendered inactive by the immune system. In 2003, active TB developed in about 8.8 million people worldwide. The disease kills about 1.7 million people a year, according to background information in the study.

There may be several reasons for the association between smoking and TB. Smoking may decrease immune response or damage the protective effect of tiny hair-like structures called cilia in the airways, resulting in increased TB risk.

"Tuberculosis control policies should in the future incorporate tobacco control as a preventive intervention," the review authors wrote.

"Potentially, smoking is one of the most modifiable of exposures. In developing countries, where life expectancy is short, highlighting smoking as a risk factor for TB may have greater resonance than advertising its risks for cancer and cardiovascular disease," they concluded.

The review authors also found that the increased risk of death from TB associated with smoking was less than the increased risk of getting TB disease. The authors said this suggests that smoking doesn't increase the risk of death in people who already have active TB.

Exercise Helps Slow Smokers' Lung Function Decline

(HealthDay News) -- Moderate to high levels of regular exercise may help slow lung function decline in smokers and lower their risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a Spanish study suggests.

Researchers publishing in the March issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine examined the physical activity, smoking history and lung function of nearly 6,800 people over 11 years. None of them had COPD at the start of the trial, but 928 of the participants developed the lung disease during the study.

The researchers found that moderate to high levels of exercise among smokers in the study were associated with a 21 percent decline in potential new cases of COPD. They believe that regular exercise suppresses the production of inflammatory markers in the lungs caused by smoking.

It had been believed that quitting smoking and reducing occupational exposure to smoke were smokers' only options for slowing lung function decline. This study showed that exercise may provide another important option, the study authors said.

"The interaction between physical activity and smoking should be taken into account when projecting the future burden of this respiratory disease," researcher Dr. Judith Garcia-Aymerich, of the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology at the Institut Municipal d'Ivestigacio Medica in Barcelona, said in a prepared statement.

COPD, the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, results from chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Smoking is the primary cause of COPD.