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Karalunas, K., RDH, PHDHP, BS. (2016, September). The Growing Popularity of Dental

Tourism. Dimensions of Dental Hygiene, 14(9), 16-18.

The article of The Growing Popularity of Dental Tourism discusses the topic of

Americans leaving the United States to get their dental work done. Due to high cost

of dental work and little to no dental insurance coverage some Americans are

traveling to the Mexican dental capital, Los Algodones. The town contains 350

dentists that compete for patients and accommodate them with transportation from

the US to Mexico. According to Kaitlin Karalunas “ninety percent of patients treated

in Los Algodones are American. The average daily influx of patients into the town

can be more than 33,000” and “ dental treatment in Los Algodones is estimated to be

approximately 60% cheaper than in the U.S”. With the mass amount of tourists and

a saturated market patients often can negotiate treatment costs. Although with

cheaper costs out of country surgeries and procedures can be dangerous and risky.

In Mexico to be admitted into a dental program you only need a high school diploma

and the dental programs last 3-5 years. Also, Mexican dental offices may not follow

as strict of infection protocols as we do in the United States and a patient could risk

getting cross contaminated. The dentists also lack restrictions and experience than

dentists in the United States; therefore one risks their safety and health when

traveling abroad.

Coming from a girl from the Midwest thinking about people leaving the

country to get their dental work done is mind blowing. The article was a fun and
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quick read with good information that honestly surprised me and entertained me.

The amount of Americans leaving to save a few dollars and get a vacation out of it

humors me and makes me want to go to Los Algodones to see it for myself. I would

defiantly recommend this to my coworkers. Although, for where we are in the

country I don’t think it’s that big of an importance to inform our patients about

traveling abroad unless they told me about it, but if we lived in a state closer to the

border I believe educating patients on the risks is very important.

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Hubbard, S., RDH. (2016, April). The head and neck exam: Only 25% of dental hygienists

provide the service. Why? RDH.

The article, The head and neck exam: Only 25% of dental hygienists provide the

service. Why?, discusses the importance of the extra oral exams and why dental

hygienists shouldn’t skip them. Hubbard starts off with an example of a patient that

looks and acts healthy but when the hygienist palpates the thyroid it is swollen and

because of this exam she learnt that she had cancer. The author explains that only

25% of hygienists perform the procedure and when discussing the topic with

hygienists most said they didn’t know how. The rest of the article explains how to

execute the extra and intra oral procedures with step by step instructions with

pictures.

The title of the article immediately caught my eye and intrigued me. We had

just recently learned about the extra oral exam and because I am still very new with

dental hygiene I had expected that almost everyone did this procedure. Reading that

only 25% of hygienists actually did is surprising and what is even more surprising

was the fact that they didn’t know how so they just skipped it. This makes me

question if the schools they went to didn’t emphasize the importance of it or in the

real world they try and save time and stop preforming extra oral exams and

eventually forget. This article is in a magazine and I’m sure a lot of dental

professionals read this so I think it is an important article especially for hygienists

that need a refresher.

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Anderson, S., BS, Salazar, P., AS, Saleem, S., & Pellegrini, J., RDH, PHD. (2016, August).

Oral Health Risks in Athletes. Dimensions of Dental Hygiene, 74-77.

When you think about athletes you think they are the epitome of health, but

according to the article, Oral Health Risks in Athletes, in the oral health stand point

that may not be the case. Research was done during the Olympic games in London

and results showed that some athletes were showing signs of dental erosion,

xerostomia and bruxism. According to the research bruxism and weightlifting go

hand in hand. When we lift heavy weights with our legs, arms and back our

masseter muscle also activates clenching. Long-term symptoms associated with

weight lifting may include temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD), tooth mobility,

alveolar bone loss, and attrition. Another issue that has arisen is the oral hygiene

with swimmers. Research is showing that strong amounts of chlorine in the water is

affecting swimmers teeth and causing erosion. Chlorine in the water can lower the

ph. as low as 3 with demineralization of the enamel starting at 5.5. Research was

conducted and found that 26% of athletic swimmers revealed dental erosion.

Xerostomoia is very common in athletes due to athletes raising their heart

levels and breathing through their mouths. Research shows that during exercise

salivary flow is decreased and the composition of the saliva such as the proteins,

bacteria and enzymes varies which thus increases biofilm accumulation. There are

methods that you may do to protect your mouth to prevent damaging your mouth

more. Chewing gum will help create more saliva, fluoride will help with dental
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erosion and sensitivity, mouth guards will protect your occlusal surfaces and

learning how to breath correctly will help with xerostomia. By following these

recommendations athletes will be able to maintain their physical health along with

their oral health.

Working out is a passion of mine and when I stumbled across this article I

was immediately drawn in. I have always had an issue with having a sore jaw and

often find that my molars are sensitive when I clench. It never occurred to me until

after I read this article that it may be from me working out daily and lifting heavy

weights. Exercise is viewed as healthy and good for you and I don’t think a lot of

people think about the downsides to their oral health. Athletes care very deeply

about their health and I believe that once we educate them on these issues they will

be very motivated and take actions to protect their oral health just as much as they

are motivated to take care of their general health. Overall this was a fun and

informative read that I was very pleased to happen upon.

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Wayant, M., RDH, BS, Cartee, D. L., RDH, MS, & Fried, J., RDH, BA, MS. (2016, September).

Communicating About Sensitive Topics. Dimensions of Dental Hygiene, 14(9), 58-61.

The article of Communicating About Sensitive Topics in the journal of Dimensions

of Dental Hygiene covers how to communicate with patients over sensitive and

uncomfortable topics such as HPV, obesity and use of tobacco. The authors explain

how each topic affects the oral cavity and why it is important to educate our patients

on not only how these topics are hurting their oral cavity but their whole body. The

authors give information such as statistics and facts over each topic and along with

tips and strategies on how to go about bringing the up the sensitive topic to their

attention. Lastly, the article shows how we personally can help our patients such as

salivary testing, oral HPV testing and referring them to the people who can help

them.

Personally I was surprised and impressed with this article. Typically when

someone thinks about oral hygiene you don’t think about having to discuss obesity

or HPV with your patients. That would be something I would consider a doctors job,

but when you think about it the oral cavity is such an important aspect to all three of

the sensitive topics in this article. I thought the article did a good job adding facts

and important statistics without making it dull to read. I will honestly tell my

patients how oral sex is the most frequent mode of transmission with HPV and is

72% of what makes up oroparyngeal cancers because that is scary and very eye

opening. Obesity on the other hand seems like the scariest topic to talk about. But I
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now see how crucial obesity is to the oral cavity. Obesity and cavities go hand in

hand because of choices of food, but periodontal disease from obesity lowering the

bodies immune system on porphyomonas gingivalis wasn’t something that clicked

until this article. I also was thankful to read the strategies on how to communicate

obesity to patients. All in all I would refer this article to my coworkers and friends.
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Ann O'Kelley Wetmore, A., MSDH, RDH. (2012, May). Recognize the Oral Signs of Eating

Disorders. Dimensions of Dental Hygiene, 64-69.

The article, Recognize the Oral Signs of Eating Disorders, discusses the types

of eating disorders our patients may have and traits that follow those disorders.

People with eating disorders typically have psychological, physiological and family

problems that trigger their emotions and attitude around their opinion of

themselves and food. Ann O'Kelley Wetmore then goes into detail of describing the

differences of anorexia nervosa (self-starvation), bulimia nervosa (excessive eating

and purging), and binge eating. Other less known disorders such as night eating

syndrome and diabulimia are discussed. Diabuilima is a newer disorder which is

when people with type 1 diabetes takes less insulin than the body needs to put the

body is starvation mode which makes your body eat at the fat and muscle to lose

weight.

The oral complications and signs we may see in patients that restrict food

may be softer tissues, candidiasis and glossitis. In severe cases where a patient is

very underweight and unhealthy the patient may have poor dental hygiene due to

fatigue and depression. Patients that binge eat and binge eat at night may have

malnourished teeth due to the amount of carbs consumed and night eaters may

show more calories due to the fact they eat during the night when your mouth

salivates less. Patients that vomit will show enamel erosion on the lingual surfaces

of the teeth, sensitive teeth, swollen parotid gland and lesions may form on the soft
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tissues due to absorption of acids and nutrients from puking. The article urges

hygienists to discus the risks of eating disorders and get them help in a

nonjudgmental way that makes them feel comfortable and safe.

I really enjoyed reading this article, it was informative and I believe this

information will be useful to recognize the oral signs in my patients. In early

adolescence and adulthood most girls struggle with body image issues and eating

disorders are common, I know the physical signs but it’s nice to know the oral signs

as well. I have grown up knowing girls with these struggles and I feel like most

women hygienists and me have a deeper understanding on the struggle and will be

able to sympathize and connect with patients. It’s such a touchy subject and if

someone didn’t really understand eating disorders I would recommend this article

because it’s a short and to the point that is an easy read.