Newsletters

April 2011 Newsletter

We know it’s hard to open a magazine or newspaper these days, without seeing an article about the connection between oral and systemic health.  Countless papers have clearly demonstrated that failing oral health will directly lead to complications with overall health.  Whether it’s diabetes or heart disease, gastrointestinal disorders or those of an eating disorder related nature, Dr. Deb and Dr. Rob are part of your larger team of healthcare providers that depend on each other to ensure your health.

It may come as a shock to you but almost 37,000 people are diagnosed with oral cancer annually in the United States.  Every hour of every day, someone dies from oral cancer.  Each day, more than 100 people are diagnosed with oral cancer.  A proper oral cancer screening is essential in early detection and diagnosis of oro-facial cancers.  The vast majority of these cancers, when diagnosed early, are treatable.    Fortunately, as a patient of our practice, you are at the center of our ever progressing world of proper diagnosis and care.  Dr. Deb, Dr. Rob and Kimberly are currently using two leading kinds of early oral cancer detection products to make your appointments as optimal as possible.  Vizilite, the first of these items, is a very simple, yet effective way of identifying lesions that have a greater potential for becoming precancerous and ultimately cancerous growths.  A 30 second swish with a solution, and then an inspection of your oral tissues with a special light allows us to identify areas that may need further evaluation.  Along with a very complete history and proper assessment of your risk factors, Vizilite is an aid to help keep your oral health at its peak.

The second yet highly accurate test that we more recently added to our repertoire is a system that evaluates the contents of your saliva for traces of HPV or Human Papilloma Virus.  Certain strains of this virus have been linked directly to many kinds of potentially lethal oral cancer.

Michael Douglas’ recent and unfortunate bout with throat cancer brought oral cancer back into the media spotlight, although, in our practice, it has always been there.  With April being oral cancer awareness month, our team wants you to know that in this month, as well as the other eleven months of the year, we are always focusing on bringing and keeping your oral health to its highest level.  If it has been a while since we’ve seen your shining smile, use this as an opportunity to get back on track with preserving your whole mouth, whole body health.

As spring gets into full bloom, so is Dr. Deb.  We have our first little one on the way!   She’s due July 3^rd so stay tuned and check back often for updates.  It looks like Adrienne already beat her to it with her latest arrival though.  She now has Murphy, an Australian Shepherd puppy.  Maybe, if we’re all lucky, Cathy will give us a ride on the new Harley that she and Bob are now the new owners of.  As for Kimberly, she’s been helping Charlie nurse a badly broken wrist back to health.  It’s a good thing spring is here because we were concerned he would get back up on that snowboard.  Andrew, Dora’s son just completed an intensive lifeguard training program and is raring to get out there on the pool scene.  Diane’s preparing for an upcoming vacation so we’re sure we’ll have a story or two from her for our next news letter.  Until then, have a wonderful, safe and healthy spring.

All our best,

The team at Bethesda Sedation Dentistry