Tide Is Starting To Turn In Battle Over Using Dental Therapists To Help Rural Patients Get Basic Care
A handful of states are starting to pass legislation allowing dental therapists--a step down from a dentist--to practice basic procedures to help under-served populations. The powerful dental lobby has been active in trying to block such laws, but advocates for the therapists are starting to gain wins. In other public health news: pediatricians, supplements, juice boxes, antibiotics, race, Ebola and autoimmune conditions.
The Associated Press:
Backers Of Rural Dental Care Find Something To Smile About
It can be hard to keep smiles healthy in rural areas, where dentists are few and far between and residents often are poor and lack dental coverage. Efforts to remedy the problem have produced varying degrees of success. The biggest obstacle? Dentists. Dozens of countries, such as New Zealand, use "dental therapists" — a step below a dentist, similar to a physician's assistant or a nurse practitioner — to bring basic dental care to remote areas, often tribal reservations. (Villeneuve, 8/18)
The Washington Post:
How Old Is Too Old To See A Pediatrician?
When Joann Alfonzo, a pediatrician in Freehold, N.J., walked into her office recently she mentally rolled her eyes when she saw her next patient: a 26-year-old car salesman in a suit and tie. “That’s no longer a kid. That’s a man,” she recalls thinking. Yet, Alfonzo wasn’t that surprised. In the past five years, she has seen the age of her patients rise, as more young adults remain at home and, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, on their parents’ health insurance until age 26. (Chesler, 8/18)
The Washington Post:
Supplements For Kids Are On The Shelves But May Not Be Safe
Amy Martin’s 3-year-old twins were sick yet again — and the Anacortes, Wash., mom was fed up. “We were just getting cold after cold,” she says. Her solution: Dietary supplements. She searched online for ideas, then picked up a bottle of elderberry gummies. She wasn’t alone. Google logged over a half-million searches for “elderberry for colds” in the past year, and the market for elderberry products is growing. (Blakemore, 8/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
The War On Sugar Hits The Juice Box
When the juice boxes are served at children’s birthday parties, Gabrielle Gard hands her son his own box—of flavored water. The 28-year-old accountant in Lakeland, Fla., doesn’t want her son Asa, almost 2, drinking real juice. To help limit sugar, she digs into her bag for a juice-box alternative: Hint brand “fruity water,” whose label promises it has “no juice, no sugar” but is “fun, delicious, parent approved.” (Chaker, 8/18)
The New York Times:
Spraying Antibiotics To Fight Citrus Scourge Doesn’t Help, Study Finds
When the Environmental Protection Agency approved the spraying of certain antibiotics three years ago to fight a deadly bacterial infection decimating Florida’s orange groves, growers thought they might have found a silver bullet. But public health advocates reacted with alarm, warning that the large-scale use of medically important drugs in agriculture could help fuel antibiotic resistance in humans. Now a new study by citrus researchers at the University of Florida suggests the spraying of one of the recommended drugs could be for naught. (Jacobs, 8/16)
MPR:
For Black Mothers And Babies, Prejudice Is A Stubborn Health Risk
At Roots, the goal is to ensure mothers have autonomy over their pregnancy and delivery. In part, that means prenatal and postnatal visits are longer in an effort to tailor care to the individual. Deliveries in such birth centers have skyrocketed in Minnesota in recent years. (Richert, 8/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Here's Why It's Premature To Say That Ebola Has Been 'Cured'
Amid a year-long Ebola outbreak that has no end in sight, this week’s headlines were unusually upbeat: “Ebola is now curable,” one proclaimed. “Ebola has finally been cured, say scientists,” announced another. “Ebola ‘no longer incurable’ as Congo trial finds drugs boost survival,” a third promised. (Baumgaertner, 8/16)
The New York Times:
Getting The Right Care For Painful Autoimmune Conditions
Beth Uffner, an avid tennis player, developed an aching pain first in her legs, then in her shoulders that got progressively worse until she lacked the strength to get out of a chair unaided, let alone play tennis. Faith Sullivan, a novelist, developed a headache so devastating that she could hardly read and had to take a fistful of aspirin to get through a scheduled talk about her books. Both women were in their mid-70s when they were seized by different but related inflammatory autoimmune conditions — polymyalgia rheumatica in Ms. Uffner, temporal arteritis in Ms. Sullivan. (Brody, 8/19)
