Are you planning to have a baby this year? One of your first trips should be to your dentist near you! If you’re not sure why read the following article.
SUGAR-FREE GUMS
A new study has found that pregnant women with periodontal disease have an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes—even
if they don’t smoke or drink. The study of 190 pregnant women was conducted by New York University dental researchers in collaboration with the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka, where cultural taboos and poverty prevents the majority of women from smoking or drinking. The results support an earlier study that found that the women at New York’s Bellevue Hospital Center who had the most amount of bleeding in their gums also
had the highest levels of glucose in their blood.
This neat article has a pretty weird topic—but, hey, it worked!
Eyetooth Procedure Sees Positive Result
It seems teeth can do more than just cut and mash food; they can help repair blindness. A A60-year-old woman from Smithdale, Miss., who
had been blind for nine years, regained her sight through the innovative thinking of surgeons from the Bascom Palmer Eye
Institute at the University of Miami. Surgeons performed a sight-restoring procedure, known as modified osteo-onto-keratoprosthesis (MOOKP), which involved implanting the woman’s own tooth in her eye to hold a prosthetic lens in place. (Coincidently, the
woman’s canine, or “eyetooth,” was used in the procedure.) MOOKP procedures are met with skepticism from some members of the ophthalmology community who feel that less extreme procedures can have similar success and MOOKP should only be used when no other alternative is available, as the procedure is lengthy and can result in disfigurement.