Navigating Healthcare: A Guide to Modern Medicine and Wellness

Monthly Archives: October 2015

The Best and Worst Halloween Candy for Teeth

Best Halloween Candy for TeethHalloween can be pretty scary, and not just for its ghosts, witches, and goblins. Halloween has been known to frighten more than just a few parents for what all that gooey, sugary candy can do to their kids’ teeth. Thankfully, as a parent, you don’t have to make your kids opt out of all the Halloween fun just because you don’t want their teeth to end up looking like that candy corn they’ve been scarfing by the boatload. In fact, it likely will surprise you to learn that some of the candy they get for for trick or treat may even be good for their teeth. For instance, sugarless candies can actually benefit teeth. But what about the rest of them? Is one sugary candy just as bad as another? Or are all Halloween candies that contain sugar as ghastly as those costumes they picked out? Here are some dental health tips for parents at Halloween about the best and worst Halloween candy for teeth.

How to Survive Halloween without Cavities

Halloween without CavitiesImpossible, right? Actually, it’s very possible. As a parent, you probably cringe every year about this time thinking about all that candy your kids are going to get on their fun night of trick-or-treating. And all that sugar swishing around in their mouths, well, it’s on a mission to destroy your kid’s teeth and tooth structures. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are things you can do as a parent to help your kids get through Halloween and all its sugary ghoulishness without coming out on the other end with a mouth full of cavities. Here are some tips from dentists in Clearwater for parents of trick-or-treat-age kids on how to survive Halloween without cavities.

Swimming Is a Low Intensity Workout

Swimming is the most amazing workout ever. Not only can swimming burn more fat than just about every other exercise there is (short of climbing Everest) because it combines weight-training/muscle building with an effective cardio workout. It’s also an enjoyable workout that keeps you from sweating yourself silly. Plus, it’s oh-so-easy on the joints! And swimming does all this in a nice, pleasant low-intensity workout! You just can’t say that about any other workout. Think about it. When you go to the gym and get on one of those sweaty machines like a treadmill, you walk, walk, walk… and when you get off, not only have you spent all that time doing the same repetitive movements looking at the same walls, but you’ve also sweated yourself to a disgusting, smelly mess… and you’re in the same place you were when you started! But, when you swim, you’re gliding along in that beautiful, silky water and, instead of sweating, you actually come out feeling cooler than when you went in! Now that’s a great workout! Here are some of the health benefits and other reasons to choose a low-intensity swimming workout over any other type of workout.

Home Remedies for Swimmer’s Ear

Home Remedies for Swimmer's EarMedically speaking, it’s an infection of the outer ear canal. Most people know it as ‘swimmer’s ear.’ The problem with this title is that it’s not very descriptive. In fact, it’s even deceptive. Many people think that, because they’re not swimmers, or because they don’t swim very often, they won’t get swimmer’s ear. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. If you’re someone who showers or bathes (and hopefully you are), you can get swimmer’s ear. Though it is true that swimmers tend to experience it more often (hence, the name), it’s also true that all it takes is one time of excessive moisture to get into your ear for you to develop an outer ear canal infection. The symptoms of swimmer’s ear are easy to know, and of swimmer’s ear treatments, there are several. If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, you likely have swimmer’s ear: redness in the ear canal; pain in the ear canal; discharge from the ear, either an odorless, colorless fluid, or in more severe cases, pus discharge; muffled hearing; full feeling within the ear (caused by swelling and/or blockage). If you’re experiencing any of the following symptoms, your swimmer’s ear infection has progressed, and it’s important to see a doctor: severe pain that may have radiated to face, neck, inside the head; fever; swelling of lymph nodes. The good news, though, about swimmers ear is that there are home remedies that can reduce or even eliminate your symptoms.

Complications of Swimmer’s Ear

Complications of Swimmer's Ear
Swimmer’s ear… it might not sound like a horrible thing, but the fact is that it can cause a lot of complications. In fact, swimmer’s ear can even lead to partial loss of hearing, and you don’t have to be a swimmer to experience it. Swimmer’s ear is nothing more than an infection, and an infection is never a good thing. An infection means that you’ve got bad bacteria somewhere, and having it in your ear can be devastating, especially if it leads to pain and loss of hearing. Swimmer’s ear is something laypeople call an outer ear canal infection. The symptoms of swimmer’s ear include pain, redness in the ear, difficulty hearing, and discharge of fluid from the ear, among others. However, these are only the mild symptoms you can experience from swimmer’s ear. The more severe symptoms of this medical condition include severe pain and redness, pus discharge from the ear, blockage causing loss of hearing, pain that radiates to the neck and head, and even swelling of lymph nodes. One very severe complication that can occur from swimmer’s ear can even be life-threatening. This is why it’s never good to take swimmer’s ear lightly. Another reason is the complications that can occur due to this infection.

How to Prevent Swimmer’s Ear

Prevent Swimmer's Ear
If you’ve ever experienced swimmer’s ear, you know how painful and disruptive it can be to your life. In fact, you may have experienced it without even knowing it. Swimmer’s ear is the term that is often used for it, but the fact is swimmer’s ear is nothing more than in infection of the outer ear canal. Everyone, even those who never swim, can develop that outer ear canal infection. It can be a very painful occurrence that can even affect your ability to hear. This is why it’s important to learn about how to prevent swimmer’s ear. It’s also why it’s important to learn a little about the various swimmer’s ear treatments available to you.