Dental X-Rays Can Cause Tumors

Recently, some interesting connections have been made regarding dental x-rays and a particular type of brain tumor. There are a number of adults who receive annual x-rays for their teeth for whatever reason, and many of these people have wound up developing a specific kind of brain tumor that appears to be related to dental imaging. This tumor is called a non-malignant meningioma tumor. Receiving a routine annual dental x-ray seems to be the most common cause. People receive radiation from these pictures of their teeth, and if they are scanned yearly when they visit their dentist office, they will be more likely to be at risk for this brain tumor.

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The American Dental Association has been asking their members to scan patients’ teeth only as needed. Annual dental x-rays are too much, so the recommendation is to receive these scans every 2 to 3 years as necessary.

There are two types of x-ray scans: panoramic or bitewing. The risk in developing a brain tumor seems to be much higher with a panoramic type, especially if the patient received it when they were younger than 10 years of age.

Knowing that many children have problems with teeth development early on, we should all be very aware of the fact that they may have already been exposed to quite a bit of radiation. We can probably expect to see a rise in meningioma before it starts to go away completely, since this news was just recently discovered.

It is important to note that the meningioma tumor caused by radiation in these scans is considered non-malignant, or benign. However, the tumor can grow to a large size and cause problematic symptoms such as hearing loss, frequent headaches, loss of vision, and memory loss. Some of these tumors can also cause seizures, so knowing how much is too much when it comes to your dental health is extremely important.

When it comes to receiving dental imaging, you should take note of whether your dental technician takes the appropriate precautions. Using protective aprons and collars should always be at the top of the list, and if you do not receive any protective gear before they take images of your teeth, make sure to speak up and let them know you must be protected from the radiation before they start. You may not notice this other detail, but you can certainly ask your technician about the film speed he or she is using. They may reply that they use digital imaging, which is a good sign that you will be protected even more.

Transferring Patien

U.S Health Department slow in Transferring Patien

 

Researchers in the United States recently found out more flaws with the US health department. Everyone knows that a no delay in the transferring of patients from one hospital to another in case of heart patients can save out a lot and turn out to be the life saving thing. But the researchers found that this facility is not available at a quick and fast pace in the US and are quite rare to be seen. This study was published on a national scale in the Archives of Internal Medicine. It was found that 90 per cent of the people are usually waiting in never ending queues and hence taking risks in the time when they should be provided with optimal care. This generally means clearing the blockage of the coronary artery that’s cutting off the blood supply to the heart and then placing a small tube called a stent to keep the artery open. This if done quickly improves upon the chance of the person’s survival as was studied by Dr. Harlan Krumholz of Yale School of Medicine. So the sooner it happens the better it is for the patient.

 

Only one fourth of the total hospitals in the United States are capable of performing this all at all times. In fact because of the unavailability of stenting many patients have to be transferred. Even then the country maintains that it should be done within 30 minutes but that happens rarely. This usually makes them to a type of heart attack called the STEMI, which strikes a lot of Americans each year. Krumholz and his fellow researchers found that the hospitals took more than an hour to transfer the patients. He said that he was basically finding the number of people who are getting delayed by more than 90 minutes and hence are not able to get proper and timely treatment. His studies have rated New Hampshire as the fastest followed by Kansas and Minnesota. Stenting usually costs around $12 billion each year to the US and carries with itself some risks of complications like some major bleeding maybe the tears in the heart.

A study that was published along with the Yale report claimed how a California hospital formed a cardiac catheterization laboratory, or cath lab which helped it to perform the stenting at any time of the day. But cath labs might turn out to be expensive, making them a luxury which all hospitals cannot afford, Dr. Rita Redberg of the University of California, San Francisco claimed in her editorial.