Make a New Year's Resolution to use your headphones less

Make it a New Year’s Resolution to use your headphones less

Not only do they isolate you, but they may also be making you deaf.

To parents:

 

     One in five teenagers in America cannot hear rustles or whispers, according to a study published in August in The Journal of the American Medical Association.  These teenagers exhibit what’s known as slight hearing loss, which means they often cannot make out consonants like T’s or K’s, or the plinking of raindrops.  The number of teenagers with hearing loss from slight to severe has jumped 33 percent since 1994. 

     Give the current ubiquity of personal media players – the iPod and mp3 players almost a decade ago- many researchers attribute this widespread hearing loss to exposure to sound played loudly and regularly through headphones.  (Ear buds, in particular, do not cancel as much noise from outside as do headphones that rest on or around the ear, so ear bud users typically listen at higher volume to drown out interference).  These findings were particularly interesting to me because I have an iPod that I use at the gym and when cutting the grass.  I saw many teenage patients using “Skull candy” ear buds and was informed that these provided the best sound.  So off to Target I went in search of the ear buds. 

The August AMA report reinforces a 2008 European study of people who habitually blast personal media players.  According to that report headphone users who listen to music at high volumes for more than an hour a day risk permanent hearing loss after five years. 

      I have given up my “Skull candy “ear buds and exchanged then for over the ear Nike headphones.  Make it a resolution to use headphones less.  Protecting our kids hearing is not just as important as protecting their brains it is protecting their brains.

When you or your child knocks a tooth out...what do you do?

WHEN YOU OR YOUR CHILD KNOCKS OUT A TOOTH…….what will you do?




An interesting and sad dilemma was presented recently in our office. I was examining a teenage patient for the first time that had moved to our area. One of his upper central incisors was missing. I asked “what happened?” I was told that the tooth was lost in a skateboard accident on a Friday night. The parent told me she phoned the emergency room and was told to keep the tooth in water until they could see their dentist on Monday morning. The dentist on Monday morning informed them they waited too long and he wished they had called his office immediately. I shared this sequence of events with my staff. Most of them are parents. I asked them as a group would you do if faced with this with one of your children. The majority knew what to do. But there were a few that were unsure.

What would you do? We are faced with a myriad of injuries to the mouth and in particular the teeth. The best method to protect the teeth is with the use of a mouthguard. As a parent you must be know that it can happen anytime, anywhere. It can happen to a running child with a face first fall onto the sidewalk, a swimmer that hits the bottom of the pool, a head to head collision on the soccer field or a baseball bat that accidentally swings into a player’s front teeth. There are numerous ways a tooth can be knocked out. Can the knocked out front tooth be saved? Statistics reveal nearly five million teeth will be accidentally knocked out (avulsed) this year.

The length of time before a tooth is re-implanted and how the tooth is transported to the dentist are crucial in successfully saving and re-implanting the tooth.

We have provided many schools in our community with SAVE-A-TOOTH Emergency Tooth Preserving System. This product will protect, nourish, and revive knocked-out teeth and ensures successful re-implantation by your dentist up to 90% of the time. It is simple to use in an emergency. Keep a container of Hanks Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) which is purchased by the trade name 3M SAVE-A-TOOTH or EMT "toothsaver." This tooth saving system contains a rejuvenating fluid in a small, sterile cup that nourishes and revives the cells of a knocked-out tooth and protects the knocked out tooth from the two primary causes of re-plantation tooth loss:

1. Tooth cell crushing

2. Tooth cell dehydration

A scientifically engineered plastic net inside the cup holds the tooth suspended in preserving fluid and protects delicate tooth tissues from being crushed and reconstitutes tooth cells. The SAVE-A-TOOTH solution helps protect a knocked out tooth from cell damage and dehydration, by suspending it in a pH-balanced cell culture fluid a tooth can be safely stored up to 24 hours until re-plantation. Remember, if the SAVE-A-TOOTH solution is not available either use whole milk or hold the tooth in the mouth until you can reach the dentist.

SAVE-A-TOOTH is recommended by dentists, textbooks, and professional sports teams. It is the only patented tooth preservation system approved by the American Dental Association.

We strive to provide the best possible dental health care for our patients. We care about your children. You may purchase the SAVE-A-TOOTH kit online at - http://www.save-a-tooth.com/saveatooth_buy.html - or through our office.