Heart attacks and canker sores: why we need to take oral health seriously

Your microbiome begins in your mouth. Why don't we look there more often?

Photo by Carl D. Walsh/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
  • Eighty percent of patients who've had heart attacks have gum disease, says Dr. Shahrzad Fattahi.
  • Oral health is also implicated in forms of cancer, dementia, canker sores, and more.
  • Fattahi says the future of medicine must also focus on saliva, as a whole new field of salivary diagnostics is emerging.
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Detecting breast cancer 5 years before clinical signs

The possibility of an easy, non-invasive detection method arises.

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  • A blood test that spots breast cancer five years ahead of clinical signs could give new meaning to "early detection."
  • Auto-antibodies for tumor antigens predict the presence of the disease.
  • Researchers say the blood test could be clinic-ready in 4-5 years.
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Chemicals in consumer products linked to lower IQs in children

Scientists find common chemicals can negatively impact pregnant women.

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  • Researchers find a link between the use of chemicals by pregnant women and lower IQs in children by age 7.
  • The scientists looked at chemical exposure in women in the first trimester of pregnancy.
  • The issue particularly affects boys.
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We're looking at death all wrong. Here's why.

Can a shift in the way we treat death and dying improve our lives while we're still here?

  • These days, for the most part, the concept of death is consumed by health care and medicine.
  • However, as humans we need to view death as more than just a medical event. It takes into account our psychology, spirituality, philosophy, social worlds, and personal lives.
  • This reconsideration should also apply to the way we treat people who are dying. Life is in the senses, not just our physical capabilities.
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New capsule can orally deliver drugs that usually have to be injected

Could this be the beginning of the end of insulin injections?

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Many drugs, especially those made of proteins, cannot be taken orally because they are broken down in the gastrointestinal tract before they can take effect. One example is insulin, which patients with diabetes have to inject daily or even more frequently.

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