5 Identify the causes of bleeding gums! - You see blood while brushing your teeth? In most cases, swollen and bleeding gums are a sign of gum disease. However, there are some other things that can cause gum problems. Whatever the reason, you still have to take care of gums and oral health. Here are the causes of bleeding gums, as reported by HowStuffWorks!
1. Poor oral hygiene
Poor oral hygiene is a major cause of gum swelling and bleeding. Oral hygiene is not only done by brushing, because it will not remove all the plaque, tartar and calculus that accumulates on your teeth.
2. Gingivitis
Gingivitis, is one of the causes swollen and bleeding gums. That means your gums are inflamed. However, if the health problem is not taken seriously, gingivitis can be a serious illness. It is a chronic condition caused by long-term effects of plaque - the sticky substance derived from bacteria, mucus and food debris stuck in your teeth - and tartar.
3. Pregnancy or hormonal changes
The gums become more sensitive during pregnancy. Its called pregnancy gingivitis, and it is caused by fluctuations in hormone levels that increase blood flow to the gums and other tissues in the body. Pregnancy hormones also affect the bodys normal response to bacteria, making you more susceptible to periodontal infection.
4. Periodontal Disease
Periodontal disease occurs when gingivitis is not treated properly. While limited to the gums gingivitis, periodontal disease can spread to the tissues and bone that support the teeth. You can even see pus between the teeth and gums.
5. Bleeding disorders
One of the most serious explanation for bleeding gums are bleeding disorders, such as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Bleeding gums can be a sign of the inability of blood to clot, so that the gums and mouth are often the first place where the symptoms appear.
Heres five medical reason behind bleeding gums. Remember, oral hygiene also affect the health of the body as a whole.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
The Oregon Medicaid Experiment Good Study Bad Politics
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| Examining the Oregon Medicaid Study |
Its not a minor argument. When the important provisions of the ACA go "live" in 2014, liberal-progressive supporters of the ACA will be tenaciously seeking to validate the merits of health care orm, while conservative critics will be looking for any excuse to strangle Obamacare in its crib.
So naturally, if a well performed study supported or contradicted the health insurance hypothesis, it would make little political difference.
How was the study done?
Unable to afford universal enrollment of approximately 30,000 eligible persons into Medicaid, Oregon figured the only fair way to administer the program was to have a lottery. Because participating individuals were allocated to one of two options (with or without Medicaid) by chance, Oregons approach had all the makings of a prospective randomized clinical trial.
The lottery was conducted in 2008 and the health status and health care costs for the winners and losers were compared using face-to-face interviews an average of 25 months later. While the lottery was state-wide, the study itself was limited to the Portland area. The researchers planned to compare the health status of 10,405 individuals who had won the lottery to 10,340 individuals who had lost and were not enrolled in Medicaid.
Not all persons signed up for Medicaid and others couldnt be tracked down for the one-on-one interviews, leaving a final number of 6487 (62% of the eligible) lottery "winners" versus 5842 (57% of the eligible) "losers."
What were the results?
All in all, the results were disappointing for persons believing the health insurance hypothesis. Having Medicaid didnt lead to better control of high blood pressure, diabetes, blood cholesterol levels or overall cardiac risk. There was also no impact on the likelihood of being admitted to a hospital or having to go to an emergency room.
The good news was that having Medicaid seemed to lessen the likelihood of battling untreated clinical depression and, if pap smears and prostate specific antigen tests are markers for access to primary care services, Medicaid increased that also. Last but not least, Medicaid participants were less likely to have catastrophic medical expenses or be in debt to cover medical bills.
Was the study perfect?
Nope. The studys generalizability was limited by being restricted to persons age 19-65 years in Medicaid and in an urban environment. Two years may not be long enough to truly gauge the benefits of having insurance. Many persons were lost to follow-up. Statistics limited the ability of the researchers to spot smaller improvements in health status.
And how did supporters and detractors of Obamacare react?
As expected. If bloggers are a window into the soul of the body politic, this KHN article amply demonstrates that no ones mind has been changed. Between inflating or minimizing the studys imperfections, cherry picking the outcomes and spinning them, we are no closer to achieving any consensus.
The Disease Management Care Blogs take:
Studies like the Oregon Medicaid study are not only rare, theyre as good as were going to get. Since no study is perfect, the likelihood that Washington DC will be able to use any nuanced research insights to inform the next steps in pursuit of the Triple Aim is not good.
The battle lines have hardened.
Nannari Badam Pisin Sarbath Sarasparilla Drink with Almond Gum
One of the summer drink we never failed to enjoy during summer is this famous nannari sarbath. Actually we can prepare sarasaparilla syrup at home with dried roots. But somehow this syrup is quite available at stores and we usually get it from Indian stores. Coming to my version of sarbath, i prepared it more interesting by adding some badam pisin aka almond gum.Badam pisin is a cooling agent, quite available in herbal medicines shops and its quite different from the goond used in North.Usually this cooling agent is used in famous drink called Jigardhanda,prepared with rose syrup.
Sarsaparilla root cools body and thats why they are widely used in summer.It also works as an excellent blood purifier. Sarsaparilla drink naturally cools the body,it is also believed to help skin problems, chronic rheumatism, urinary infection and stomach heat problems. Sarsaparilla drink is an excellent tonic that would resh the body during extreme heat. Dont forget to prepare this drink during summer and beat the heat with it.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27.
1/4cup Nannari syrup/Sarasaparilla syrup
2tbsp Sabja seeds (soaked in water)
1no Lemon
Few soaked badam pisin/almond gum
Ice cubes
Take the syrup,soaked sabja seeds, soaked badam pisin in a vessel..
Add enough chilled water, squeeze out the juice from the lemon.
Add the icecubes,mix well and serve.
No need to add any sugar, since the syrup will have enough sugar.
How to soak almond gum:
Soak few pieces of almond gum in water overnite and let them sit in room temperature.
The next day,you can see the soaked almond gum turned as transparent jelly like texture. Drain the soaked water, remove the impurities and wash again.
Use it in juices as per need.
Sarsaparilla root cools body and thats why they are widely used in summer.It also works as an excellent blood purifier. Sarsaparilla drink naturally cools the body,it is also believed to help skin problems, chronic rheumatism, urinary infection and stomach heat problems. Sarsaparilla drink is an excellent tonic that would resh the body during extreme heat. Dont forget to prepare this drink during summer and beat the heat with it.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27.
1/4cup Nannari syrup/Sarasaparilla syrup
2tbsp Sabja seeds (soaked in water)
1no Lemon
Few soaked badam pisin/almond gum
Ice cubes
Take the syrup,soaked sabja seeds, soaked badam pisin in a vessel..
Add enough chilled water, squeeze out the juice from the lemon.
Add the icecubes,mix well and serve.
No need to add any sugar, since the syrup will have enough sugar.
How to soak almond gum:
Soak few pieces of almond gum in water overnite and let them sit in room temperature.
The next day,you can see the soaked almond gum turned as transparent jelly like texture. Drain the soaked water, remove the impurities and wash again.
Use it in juices as per need.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Rare occurrence 4 twins born from one embryo
Rare occurrence, 4 twins born from one embryo - Maybe that happened on the couple Christine and Justin Clark is a miracle. Because, after trying to have children for 10 years, couples twins get four at once.
Fourth twin baby girls have also broke the record and made history in the medical world. Because the baby is growing and the fourth came from one embryo only. This is a very rare case, there is only one in 70 million chances.
Currently their fourth baby to be healthy and ready to take home. They weigh 4.5 pounds six weeks ago.
"We expect to have one child, but four children really can not be trusted. Honestly, I do not believe it until I see for myself with my eyes," said Christine Clark, as reported by the Metro (15/05).
Couples who come from Brinsworth Rotherdam almost given up on having children when they decided to perform in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF is a technique of mixing the eggs with the partners sperm in the laboratory for fertilization. After successful fertilization occurs, the embryo is then implanted in the womans uterus.
Christine Clark immediately became pregnant three weeks after the embryo implanted in her womb through IVF. During pregnancy, she experienced severe morning sickness, and even had to be hospitalized because of breathing difficulties before giving birth via Caesarean process.
After that, the four children born from one embryo is implanted. They named Darcy, Caroline, Elisha, and Alexis. Justin Clark, the father admitted to not only happy and interested, but also worried when they were told would have four twins.
The doctor explained that this is the first time the four infants with the same birth sex of the embryo alone. Adel Shaker, medical director of CARE Sheffield explained that she had seen two embryos that turn out to be triplets or one embryo into twins. But it has also been quite rare.
Further tests will be done to see if the baby is four actually quadruplets, or two pairs of twins, or a pair of twins and two people are not twins.
Fourth twin baby girls have also broke the record and made history in the medical world. Because the baby is growing and the fourth came from one embryo only. This is a very rare case, there is only one in 70 million chances.
Currently their fourth baby to be healthy and ready to take home. They weigh 4.5 pounds six weeks ago.
"We expect to have one child, but four children really can not be trusted. Honestly, I do not believe it until I see for myself with my eyes," said Christine Clark, as reported by the Metro (15/05).
Couples who come from Brinsworth Rotherdam almost given up on having children when they decided to perform in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF is a technique of mixing the eggs with the partners sperm in the laboratory for fertilization. After successful fertilization occurs, the embryo is then implanted in the womans uterus.
Christine Clark immediately became pregnant three weeks after the embryo implanted in her womb through IVF. During pregnancy, she experienced severe morning sickness, and even had to be hospitalized because of breathing difficulties before giving birth via Caesarean process.
After that, the four children born from one embryo is implanted. They named Darcy, Caroline, Elisha, and Alexis. Justin Clark, the father admitted to not only happy and interested, but also worried when they were told would have four twins.
The doctor explained that this is the first time the four infants with the same birth sex of the embryo alone. Adel Shaker, medical director of CARE Sheffield explained that she had seen two embryos that turn out to be triplets or one embryo into twins. But it has also been quite rare.
Further tests will be done to see if the baby is four actually quadruplets, or two pairs of twins, or a pair of twins and two people are not twins.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
8 Tool hygiene rarely cleaned
The task of cleaning tools to clean it. But lest you miss the dirt on hygiene tool itself. At least, there are eight rare hygiene kits and never even cleaned. What is it? Check out more as reported by the Good Housekeeping below.
Appliance dishwasher
Automatic dishwashing appliance should be cleaned on a regular basis once a month from bacteria, fungi, and even moss. Use soap or vinegar to clean the dishwasher. If it turns a rusty sink tool, mark the water used to wash contains iron.
Washer
Sign of a dirty washing machine is a scent that began to burst foul. The cause could be from many things, such as laundry soap or bacteria from clothes. Washer rinse with warm water is not enough. You need to vinegar and baking soda are mixed with hot water to clean the washing machine.
Vacuum cleaner
Duty vacuum cleaner is vacuuming and cleaning the dirt from inside the house. But hygiene is often forgotten tool sterilized so that its performance was declining. At least the vacuum cleaner should be cleaned on a regular basis once a month.
Broom
Just like a vacuum cleaner, broom task is to drive the dust. But it rarely broom was never cleaned up. Each complete sweep, clean the dirt in the end. Rinse with water and soap and then dry before being stored and used again.
Sponges
A study never mentions that sponges contain at least seven million bacteria on it. However, the bacteria can actually be reduced by giving a liquid disinfectant every few days. Sponges also need to be replaced every month.
Cloth
One alternative is a home appliance cleaning cloth. After that, immediately wash rag along with clothing. How to clean laps as it is not appropriate. In addition to different material, wash cloth with clothes also not a good idea.
Mops
Mops have properties similar to a sponge. Clean with bleach and warm water, then dry before storage. Leaving wet mops remained completely dry or not can be a breeding ground for the germs.
Cleaning fluid
If stored in a cool, dark place, various cleaning fluids can last up to two years. But most people often keep the cleaner in the bathroom. Of course the bottle into a soft nest for germs.
That various equipment that is seldom cleaned. How about you, if you diligently clean it?
Appliance dishwasher
Automatic dishwashing appliance should be cleaned on a regular basis once a month from bacteria, fungi, and even moss. Use soap or vinegar to clean the dishwasher. If it turns a rusty sink tool, mark the water used to wash contains iron.
Washer
Sign of a dirty washing machine is a scent that began to burst foul. The cause could be from many things, such as laundry soap or bacteria from clothes. Washer rinse with warm water is not enough. You need to vinegar and baking soda are mixed with hot water to clean the washing machine.
Vacuum cleaner
Duty vacuum cleaner is vacuuming and cleaning the dirt from inside the house. But hygiene is often forgotten tool sterilized so that its performance was declining. At least the vacuum cleaner should be cleaned on a regular basis once a month.
Broom
Just like a vacuum cleaner, broom task is to drive the dust. But it rarely broom was never cleaned up. Each complete sweep, clean the dirt in the end. Rinse with water and soap and then dry before being stored and used again.
Sponges
A study never mentions that sponges contain at least seven million bacteria on it. However, the bacteria can actually be reduced by giving a liquid disinfectant every few days. Sponges also need to be replaced every month.
Cloth
One alternative is a home appliance cleaning cloth. After that, immediately wash rag along with clothing. How to clean laps as it is not appropriate. In addition to different material, wash cloth with clothes also not a good idea.
Mops
Mops have properties similar to a sponge. Clean with bleach and warm water, then dry before storage. Leaving wet mops remained completely dry or not can be a breeding ground for the germs.
Cleaning fluid
If stored in a cool, dark place, various cleaning fluids can last up to two years. But most people often keep the cleaner in the bathroom. Of course the bottle into a soft nest for germs.
That various equipment that is seldom cleaned. How about you, if you diligently clean it?
Saturday, May 10, 2014
High About a New Low!
Hi,
I could hardly believe it when I stepped on the scale this morning and read 317.75!! It was like a miracle and I was able to picture myself getting below the 300 mark. This program is really working. As I thought about it, I realized that when I get just under the 300 mark I will again be the weight I was at Kellies wedding. Her son is a teenager now, so that is about how long ago that was. I believe he may be about 17, so it was about 18 years ago. I still have the dress I wore then and I will be very happy to wear it again one day.
I must say that I have been contemplating making a slight change based on my experience. I am not sure it is the right thing to do. I dont want to just succumb to my own trick thinking. Here is the problem that I am trying to solve. About two or three days after the cheat meal I begin to highly crave another bit of either high sugar or carb. I am considering adding, not another cheat meal, but one cheat item/serving on day three to carry me past that episode with less stress. I could also simply make it a "floater" and do it when the craving hits but limit it to one item, one serving, one day per week sometime between day one and day six.
I have indulged that one item crave nearly every week, but since that is a deviation from the program I end up feeling guilty and creating a lot of stress for myself. Yet, the program is still working, so it seems plausible that I might be able to simply work in one cheat item on day three (or whenever), simply as a regular part of the program. If it is part of the program I wont have to feel so guilty about it. It often seems to happen on a day that I exercise, too.
I certainly dont want to jeopardize my weight loss progress with my new addition. I just want to smooth things out for myself. I shall try it this week and see how it goes. If, over time, it becomes too hard to manage and I start wanting something every day, I will know that I am being tricked by the addiction. But, if it does not slow my progress and is not too hard to handle I will continue with it. So here goes. Making the change.
Today was day seven of week four and I had my cheat meal of tomato, black bean and hamburger soup with rice on the side. I ended up eating the whole pan of rice which had been made with 1.3 cups of dry rice and 3 cups of water with salt and spices. I set the timer (because of the one-hour time limit) and started with a large bowl of the beans and rice mixed together. It was tasty but something was lacking. I am still not sure what was missing. So then I had two bowls of plain rice with butter -- on the last one I liberally sprinkled some xylitol and cinnamon to make it like a dessert. It was not exactly like rice pudding but it was OK. It is now about 5 hours later and I still feel full. I am not exactly sure what to do with all the left over soup.
I am considering either putting the large jar of soup into the freezer to use at some later time or doling it into plastic bags for smaller portions that would be more convenient to use. I could also just throw it out. If I was not currently suffering with another sinus and bronchial cold, I would give it to some friends but I dont want to share my germs with them. Ill probably just place the jar in the freezer and be done with it.
After a meal like that one I have found that I usually put on about two pounds the next morning but, so far, it has simply dropped off the next day and then the weight loss continues. After a meal like that one, I also find myself ready to return to my nice meals of raw vegetables and protein. They simply make my body feel better.
I hope you are doing well. Feel free to comment either on the content of the blog or on your life and situation. Please dont hide if things are not going well. You can get yourself out of a hole much faster by sharing about it and then moving on to better things. For me this blog seems to keep me headed in the right direction.
God bless you,
Be back soon,
Marcia
I could hardly believe it when I stepped on the scale this morning and read 317.75!! It was like a miracle and I was able to picture myself getting below the 300 mark. This program is really working. As I thought about it, I realized that when I get just under the 300 mark I will again be the weight I was at Kellies wedding. Her son is a teenager now, so that is about how long ago that was. I believe he may be about 17, so it was about 18 years ago. I still have the dress I wore then and I will be very happy to wear it again one day.
I must say that I have been contemplating making a slight change based on my experience. I am not sure it is the right thing to do. I dont want to just succumb to my own trick thinking. Here is the problem that I am trying to solve. About two or three days after the cheat meal I begin to highly crave another bit of either high sugar or carb. I am considering adding, not another cheat meal, but one cheat item/serving on day three to carry me past that episode with less stress. I could also simply make it a "floater" and do it when the craving hits but limit it to one item, one serving, one day per week sometime between day one and day six.
I have indulged that one item crave nearly every week, but since that is a deviation from the program I end up feeling guilty and creating a lot of stress for myself. Yet, the program is still working, so it seems plausible that I might be able to simply work in one cheat item on day three (or whenever), simply as a regular part of the program. If it is part of the program I wont have to feel so guilty about it. It often seems to happen on a day that I exercise, too.
I certainly dont want to jeopardize my weight loss progress with my new addition. I just want to smooth things out for myself. I shall try it this week and see how it goes. If, over time, it becomes too hard to manage and I start wanting something every day, I will know that I am being tricked by the addiction. But, if it does not slow my progress and is not too hard to handle I will continue with it. So here goes. Making the change.
Today was day seven of week four and I had my cheat meal of tomato, black bean and hamburger soup with rice on the side. I ended up eating the whole pan of rice which had been made with 1.3 cups of dry rice and 3 cups of water with salt and spices. I set the timer (because of the one-hour time limit) and started with a large bowl of the beans and rice mixed together. It was tasty but something was lacking. I am still not sure what was missing. So then I had two bowls of plain rice with butter -- on the last one I liberally sprinkled some xylitol and cinnamon to make it like a dessert. It was not exactly like rice pudding but it was OK. It is now about 5 hours later and I still feel full. I am not exactly sure what to do with all the left over soup.
I am considering either putting the large jar of soup into the freezer to use at some later time or doling it into plastic bags for smaller portions that would be more convenient to use. I could also just throw it out. If I was not currently suffering with another sinus and bronchial cold, I would give it to some friends but I dont want to share my germs with them. Ill probably just place the jar in the freezer and be done with it.
After a meal like that one I have found that I usually put on about two pounds the next morning but, so far, it has simply dropped off the next day and then the weight loss continues. After a meal like that one, I also find myself ready to return to my nice meals of raw vegetables and protein. They simply make my body feel better.
I hope you are doing well. Feel free to comment either on the content of the blog or on your life and situation. Please dont hide if things are not going well. You can get yourself out of a hole much faster by sharing about it and then moving on to better things. For me this blog seems to keep me headed in the right direction.
God bless you,
Be back soon,
Marcia
Friday, May 9, 2014
Three Population Health Management Principles for Reconciling Quality Based Pay for Performance and the Doctor Patient Relationship
Writing in the New England Journal, Robert Berenson and Deborah Kay of the Urban Institute say a linchpin of Washington DCs pursuit of quality is a "policy overreach [that] could undermine the quest for higher-value health care."Yikes. The Disease Management Care Blog turns to population health management to ponder their unhappiness.
The authors concern is over Medicares "Physician Quality Reporting System" or "PQRS." As the DMCB understands it, PQRS rewards (and penalizes) physicians for outcomes that are calculated from a set of quality "modifiers" that are submitted as part of the Medicare billing statement (an example can be found here). The amount of money at stake is in the range of 1%-2% of the Medicare reimbursements.
Berensen and Kay point out that while the system has been ramping up over 6 years, 70% of Medicare participating physicians do not submit any modifiers. In their opinion, thats because:
1) the loss of 1% of any payment is practically meaningless,
2) physicians distrust the metrics and
3) there is a fundamental disconnect between the modifiers and the complex world of clinical practice.
As examples, radiologists are being dinged for total x-ray exposure while surgeons are being held accountable for pre-op antibiotic administration. While these and other quality measures are important, they fall far short of recognizing what keeps docs up at night, like reading the x-ray correctly and getting a patient through surgery and out of the hospital.
"Hear hear!" says the Disease Management Care Blog. In the course of a normal day, it is job of doctors to do "doctor stuff" involving one patient at a time.
But, you ask, isnt that contrary to being accountable to the health of populations?
The DMCB doesnt think so, because state-of-the-art population health management (PHM) agrees that:
A. Physicians need to be immunized from disruptions their "customer facing" (i.e., the patient) activities. Otherwise known as the doctor-patient relationship, thats the part of the health care system that relies on the seven or more years of undergraduate and graduate training that turns smart people into exquisitely trained physicians. Let the doctors be doctors, says the DMCB, and let them worry about their patients.
B. High performing systems - as much as possible - need to be configured around those customer-facing activities, further enabling the doc to focus on the patient who is right here and right now.
From time to time, PHM might have to intrude. When it does, the DMCB suggests policymakers recognize that they should proceed:
1) only when its really important
2) only infrequently and
3) whenever possible, when it reduces physician work by outsourcing (an example in primary care can be found here) those things that dont require the personal involvement of a doc.
It would seem that Medicares PQRS failed to recognize the fundamentals.
Image fromWikipedia
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