Your health: Chicagoans would choose gridlock over flossing their teeth
Chicagoans choose gridlock over flossing
A new national survey released last week reveals that more than a quarter (27 percent) of U.S. adults admit they lie to their dentist about how often they floss their teeth.
Additionally, more than one-third of Americans (36 percent) would rather do an unpleasant activity like cleaning the toilet (14 percent) over daily flossing.
The survey also revealed some regional distinctions in unpleasant activities participants would choose over flossing. Chicagoans are more likely than those in other regions to opt for an hour of gridlock traffic over daily flossing.
Along with brushing teeth twice a day and an annual comprehensive periodontal evaluation from a periodontist, daily flossing is a critical component in the prevention of periodontal disease. The survey was conducted online in March by Harris Poll on behalf of the American Academy of Periodontology among 2,021 U.S. adults and among the top 10 U.S. markets. “There's clearly more work to be done when it comes to educating Americans about the importance of oral hygiene. There are more than 500 bacterial species that can be found in plaque, and brushing alone does not remove the bacteria that live below the gum line,” says AAP President Joan Otomo-Corgel, DDS, MPH. “The good news about periodontal disease is, with proper and timely care, it's treatable and often reversible. If a person is at risk for periodontal disease, a periodontist has the training and expertise to determine the best course of treatment.”
Woman has scary skinny jeans tale
If you've ever done any serious moving in skinny jeans, you're probably aware that they can get pretty uncomfortable. (They're definitely not yoga pants.)
You probably didn't know, however, that tight skinny jeans can also get dangerous, Yahoo! Health reports.
In a new case study published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, doctors highlight a 35-year-old woman who arrived at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia.
She presented with weakness in both ankles and feet, so much so that she was unable to walk. She also suffered severe swelling below the knees in both legs, so much so that doctors had to cut her jeans off the previous day.
She recalled to doctors that the issues had begun the day before, when she was helping a relative move and spent hours squatting to empty cupboards. She'd been wearing skinny jeans at the time, and remembered they grew increasingly snug and uncomfortable the longer she had them on.
The doctors determined her symptoms were the result of nerve damage in both legs, due to two factors, according to study author Thomas Kimber, MD, a neurologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Adelaide.
“It was the combination of squatting and tight jeans that caused the problem,” he told Yahoo Health. “Squatting would have compressed the peroneal nerves in the lower leg and reduced the blood supply to the calf muscles; the tight jeans meant that, as the calf muscles started to swell in response to the reduced blood supply, they compressed the adjacent tibial nerves and further cut off the blood supply to the muscles.”