Dental and Oral Health News

• Pulling Wisdom Teeth Has Surprising Benefit: Better Taste People who've had their wisdom teeth removed have a better sense of taste decades after surgery, according to a study that is allaying concern over side effects after dental work.
  WebMD Health News, July 20, 2021
• Fecal Transplantation and Fiber Improves Insulin in Obesity "The potential for improving human health through the microbiome is immense. We are only scratching the surface at the moment," says the lead author of small new study.
  Medscape Medical News, July 14, 2021
• Opioid Prescriptions Decrease in Young Kids Although opioid prescription rates decreased for children, teens, and younger adults, high-dosage and long-duration prescriptions increased for children aged 0 to 5 years, a study shows.
  Medscape Medical News, July 01, 2021
• More Evidence Doctors' Work Hours Dropped During the Pandemic In addition to a small but significant drop in hours worked, researchers also found a decline in the percentage of physicians working full time and a rise in the percentage who were laid off.
  Medscape Medical News, June 23, 2021
• SLEEP 2021 How Dreams Might Prepare You for What's Next Dreams can feel random and disjointed but might actually serve a higher function, helping you prepare for what's ahead, according to new research findings.
  WebMD Health News, June 16, 2021
• ASCO 2021 Saliva Test to Detect HPV-Associated Throat Cancer A new clinically validated saliva test has demonstrated high accuracy in detecting HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.
  Medscape Medical News, June 16, 2021
• AMA, JAMA Shakeup Highlights Divide in Medicine A February podcast on structural racism has brought to light an ideological divide in medicine begetting two distinct camps: those who believe systemic racism permeates the field, and those who do not.
  Medscape Medical News, June 08, 2021
• Dentures May Harbor More Bacteria During COVID-19 Denture wearers infected with the new coronavirus may be more likely to harbor bacteria that increase their risk for additional infections on top of COVID-19, a small study suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, May 26, 2021
• Clean Indoor Air Is Vital for Infection Control In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists say it's time to rate indoor air quality and clean it to prevent the spread of airborne illnesses.
  Medscape Medical News, May 27, 2021
• Floating Holograms Coming to a Clinic Near You Airborne three-dimensional images that doctors can use to explain health problems are being generated by engineers from beams of laser light, just like in Star Wars.
  Medscape Medical News, May 20, 2021
• This Scientist Is Auctioning Off His DNA and Says Yours is Valuable Too George Church's genetic information is for sale and the Harvard geneticist, who was one of the first people to ever have his genome sequenced, says personal information can be profitable.
  Medscape Medical News, May 19, 2021
• Ear Tubes No Better Than Antibiotics for Otitis Media Tympanostomy tubes were not superior to antibiotic treatment for recurrent acute otitis media.
  Medscape Medical News, May 13, 2021
• New Clues Show How the Immune System Fights COVID-19 Scientists have focused on antibodies the immune system makes to protect people from one part of the coronavirus spike, but now they report that antibodies can shield in other areas too.
  Medscape Medical News, May 11, 2021
• Topol Talks: COVID-19 Variants Are Innocent Until Proven Guilty Medscape Medical News Editor-in-Chief Eric Topol, MD, addresses the ability of current and future COVID-19 vaccines to combat SARS-CoV-2 variants and other obstacles to pandemic "containment."
  Medscape Medical News, May 07, 2021
• Physician Sexual Misconduct: Stronger Action Needed, FSMB Says The Federation of State Medical Boards working group has issued a set of recommendations on sexual misconduct toward patients by physicians.
  Medscape Medical News, April 29, 2021
• FDA Moves to Ban Menthol in Tobacco Products The action comes after public health groups petitioned and then sued the agency to force it to address menthol.
  Medscape Medical News, April 29, 2021
• Cancellation of Care Came Mostly From Patients Early in Pandemic However, much more care was postponed or canceled because patients feared going to medical offices and hospitals.
  Medscape Medical News, April 26, 2021
• Feds Investigating Telehealth Charges in Upsurge With telehealth restrictions eased during the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual care has become more common, but it can also be misused, and one pattern is already under investigation.
  Medscape Medical News, April 26, 2021
• AAD VMX 2021 Psoriasis Clearance Rates Higher With Bimekizumab vs Secukinumab At 4 months, 62% of those on bimekizumab had complete clearance.
  Medscape Medical News, April 24, 2021
• FDA Expands Use of SLIT Pollen Allergy Treatment to Children ALK's Ragwitek, a drug used to treat pollen-induced allergic reactions in adults, received FDA approval for use in children and adolescents.
  Medscape Medical News, April 22, 2021