This
week, the FDA proposes new nutrition labels, the Florida Public Health
Institute reports that dental-related ER visits are on the rise and a new
standard for sharing dental data has been created to more effectively identify
missing persons. Join the conversation on Twitter using #FridayDentalDL.
The
number of Floridians treated in hospital emergency rooms for dental problems rose
to more than 139,000 in 2012, according to a study by the Florida Public Health
Institute. Many of these issues could have been treated in a dental office or
clinic, or even prevented with regular dental exams. The study, funded by DentaQuest
Foundation, found that the total
charges for dental-related ER visits in Florida exceeded $141 million.
For
the first time in twenty years, the Food and Drug Administration is proposing
several big changes to the nutrition labels that appear on 700,000 products. On
the new labels, serving sizes will better reflect how much food Americans are actually
consuming, the calorie count will be more prominent and the amount of Vitamin D
and potassium in a product will be included. Most important to your dental
health, the new label will distinguish between the amount of natural sugar and
added sugars in the product. Added sugars are the artificial sugars and syrups
added to processed foods that can be more detrimental to teeth than natural
sugars. Keep in mind that natural sugars, like those in milk and fruit, can linger in the mouth and cause
cavities. Be sure to clean your teeth after consuming them.
We’ve
all heard that dental records are used to help identify missing persons after a
disaster. Now, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has officially
added “dental data” to its existing list of what can be used to identify
deceased individuals. Now that there is a standard protocol, organizations can more
easily obtain dental data from dental offices for forensic purposes, the same
way they would contact police stations and hospitals for fingerprints and DNA.