How You Can Quit?

Posted on November 9, 2011 by admin

The Great American Smokeout is coming! Count down to
November 17th.
For starters, identify 6 to 12 strategies to help you reduce tobacco.

Users like nicotine for a variety of reasons (mood management, stress management, productivity or relaxation), and they need to have one to three strategies for each reason they use nicotine.

Identify strategies, ideas, people or situations that make you feel enthusiastic, hopeful and personally empowered. Try to identify as many strategies (preferably six to 12 strategies) as you can to help you with the reduction process. Studies show that the more strategies that you combine, the more likely you are to succeed.


Here are some strategies for reducing your use of tobacco:

  • Breathe deeply and often. Air is the primary food of the mind and body. Breathing can reduce a severe craving for tobacco, reduce stress and tension, and enhance your health and sense of well being.
  • Drink lots of water. It is the second most important food for the mind and body.
  • Start an exercise program that includes aerobic, toning and stretching forms of exercise. Exercise is the highest predictor for successfully becoming an ex-tobacco user.
  • Practice relaxation exercises to help you reduce stress and tension.
  • Eat a well-balanced, heart-healthy diet so that you avoid weight problems.
  • Find a diet and nutritional program that will restore and enhance your health.
  • Rally your personal support group to help you succeed in achieving your goals.
  • Start to eliminate tobacco use that you don’t really need or that you use unconsciously.
  • Put your tobacco use on a schedule.
  • Enlarge your “no-tobacco-use” people, places or times.
  • Imagine and practice how you will handle various situations without tobacco.
  • Examine your past attempts to reduce or quit when you were successful for a good amount of time. What helped you succeed?
  • Create a meaningful personal ritual to say “goodbye” to your old tobacco habit.
  • Work on developing an “Attitude with Altitude.” Smile more often. Give and get more hugs.
  • Keep a pack of sugarless gum, sugarless breath mints or hard candy with you at all times. Eat only one piece of candy or gum at a time, and try to make each piece last as long as possible. Sucking and chewing will give your mouth a replacement for your tobacco use.
  • Brush your teeth often. People tend to crave tobacco less when they have a clean mouth.
  • Reward yourself for each week you successfully reduce your tobacco use, and stick with your fitness and eating plans. Make your rewards or treats non-food oriented -instead of going for a drinks and dinner, get a relaxing massage.

Tell yourself every day that you are getting stronger and healthier each day.

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The Great American Smokeout is coming! Count down to November 17th

Posted on October 31, 2011 by admin

Mastering Additional Obstacles to Staying Quit

On average, people who stop smoking gain about five pounds. However, because the benefits of quitting smoking far exceed any risks from the average weight gain, this should not be a deterrent.

Consider the following to avoid unwanted weight gain:

  • Watch portion sizes.
  • Keep healthy foods readily available.
  • Be more active.
  • Schedule an appointment with a dietitian to discuss developing a plan that can help minimize weight gain.
  • Be aware that while eating well and exercising are important, the primary goal is to quit smoking for good.

Are you tempted to smoke when drinking alcohol? there is usually a strong bond between having a drink and having a cigarette. Smoke smokers find it helpful to avoid alcohol during the first few days after stopping until they feel stronger about resisting the temptation to smoke. If you would like to continue drinking alcoholic beverages in moderation when you first quit, consider changing the drink of choice along with the manner of drinking. This will lessen the association between the drink and smoking, and will also serve as a cue to remind you that you are an ex-smoker now.

Do you have the support of friends and family during this quit attempt? Supportive family and friends are extremely important while quitting smoking. They can provide encouragement, distraction, humor, and warmth when you need it most. Many people find it helpful to have one or more close friends
or family members involved in their quit attempt.

  • Ask them to listen when you are expressing feelings or concerns.
  • Ask them to help you stay away from tempting, high-calorie foods by suggesting, for example, fruits and vegetables instead of cookies for an afternoon snack.
  • Ask them to do something physically active with you: go for a walk, ride a bike, or play tennis.
  • Ask them to offer to do other things with you: go to the movies, a nonsmoking restaurant, or a museum.
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National Dental Hygiene Month will be here soon. Are you ready?

Posted on August 24, 2011 by admin
National Dental Hygiene Month will be here soon. Are you ready?The American Dental Hygienists Association (ADHA) is excited to announce that once again, this year, we are partnering with the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, manufacturer of Orbit gum to celebrate National Dental Hygiene Month (NDHM) in October!

It’s What We Do for Our Patients Every Day

This year’s theme, “It’s Simple. Healthy Habits for a Healthy Smile,” continues last year’s emphasis on incorporating a simple oral health regimen into a busy active lifestyle. Prevention is once again the focal point of the NDHM consumer message. ADHA is committed through its strategic plan to raise awareness of the dental hygiene profession and ADHA. In addition, ADHA stresses the value of working to increase public awareness about the importance of good oral hygiene and developing and following a simple daily oral health routine.

All ADHA Members were provided with a FREE POSTER promoting this year’s campaign with their August issue of Access magazine.

It’s About You!

National Dental Hygiene Month is an opportunity to share with the world the wonderful services which you, as a dental hygienist, provide to your patients and the community at large, but it’s also a time to be recognized for that contribution.

It’s About Your Community!

Last year, in addition to the NDHM activities, the Wrigley Foundation also chose to support dental hygienists in the work that they do in the community and partnered with the ADHA Institute for Oral Health to offer a new program of community service grants designed to improve the public’s oral health. Through this program, 12 grants of $5,000 were made available to ADHA’s local organizations, one for each of ADHA’s twelve districts to provide a community service project in their area. Look for more information about this year’s program in the weeks to come.

Public Relations Materials to help You Spread the Word

A Word from Our Sponsor

 

Chewing Sugarfree Gum Helps Improve Oral Health

Did you know that chewing sugar-free gum, like Orbit, after eating is clinically proven to be an important part of good oral health.   It stimulates the most important natural defense against tooth decay – saliva – which, in turn helps fight cavities, neutralizes plaque acids, remineralizes enamel to strengthen teeth and washes away food particles.

In fact, according to a study published in the Journal of Dental Research over the course of two years, children who chewed gum after meals reduced dental caries by nearly 40 percent compared to non-chewers.1    

So, recommend that your patients chew sugarfree gum to compliment their daily brushing and flossing routine, especially after meals and snacks when they are on the go.

1 J. Szoke et al. “Effect of After-Meal Sucrose-Free Gum-Chewing on Clinical Caries.” J Dent Res 80(8): 1725-1729. 2001.

 

Stay Tuned for more National Dental Hygiene Month Updates…

 

American Dental Hygienists’ Association
444 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3400
Chicago, IL 60611

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50 Facts about Oral, Head and Neck Cancer

Posted on August 18, 2011 by admin

Head & Neck Cancer Alliance

  1. Oral, Head and Neck Cancer is cancer that arises in the nasal cavity, sinuses, lips, mouth, thyroid glands, salivary glands, throat, or voice box.
  2. Tobacco and alcohol use are the leading causes of tongue and voice box cancers.
  3. Cancers of the head and neck account for 6 percent of all malignancies in the United States.
  4. Whites currently have the highest incidence rates of head and neck cancers, although death is still highest in African Americans.
  5. The majority of the time, people are over the age of 40 when Oral, Head and Neck Cancer is discovered.
  6. Eighty-five percent of Oral, Head and Neck Cancers are linked to tobacco use. Smoking cigarettes is the major cause of most head and neck cancers. Chewing tobacco has been shown to cause mouth cancer. Human Papilloma Virus may be related to over half of tonsil cancers.
  7. People who use both tobacco and alcohol are at greater risk than people who use them alone.
  8. Oral Head and Neck cancers tend to form in the areas where tobacco/alcohol use has the most contact. For example, where the cigarette sits on the lip, or where the chewing tobacco is placed in the mouth.
  9. Cigarette smoking increases your risk of head and neck cancer by 15 times compared to a non-smoker.
  10. Physical factors such as exposure to ultraviolet radiation are factors contributing to cancers of the lips.
  11. The incidence of thyroid cancer has increased in all races and in both males and females in the past two decades.
  12. Over the past ten years, an increasing number of people with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) who were young, non-smokers have developed Oral, Head and Neck Cancer.
  13.  Today, about 10,000 new cases of Oral, Head and Neck Cancer can be attributed to a particular strain of HPV.
  14.  Oral, Head and Neck Cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the United States.
  15.  66% of the time, oral cancers will be found as late stage three and four diseases.
  16.  Men are affected about twice as often as women with oral cancer.
  17.  Around 40,000 people are diagnosed with Oral, Head and Neck Cancer every year in the United States.
  18.  Worldwide, over 400,000 new cases of Oral, Head and Neck cancer are diagnosed each year.
  19.  Signs of Oral, Head and Neck Cancer: a sore in your mouth that doesn’t heal, constant pain in your mouth, lumps or patches in your mouth, pain around your teeth, changes in your voice, and a lump in your neck.
  20.  Most oral cancers form on the lips, tongue, or floor of the mouth. They also may happen inside your cheeks, on your gums or on the roof of your mouth.
  21.  Most head and neck cancers can be prevented.
  22.  Head and neck cancers often spread to the lymph nodes of the neck.
  23.  It is estimated that approximately $3.2 billion is spent in the United States each year on treatment of head and neck cancers.
  24.  Surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy are the most common treatments designed to stop the spread of cancer by killing and/or removing the cancerous cells.
  25.  Treatment of head and neck cancers requires the assistance of many different professionals, such as surgeons, radiation oncologists, chemotherapy oncologists, dentists, nutritionists, and speech therapists.
  26.  About half of throat cancers occur in the larynx (voice box), while the other half occur in the pharynx (throat).
  27.  The presence of acid reflux disease could also be a major factor in throat cancer. In the case of acid reflux disease, acids flow up into the esophagus, and damage its lining, making it more at risk to throat cancer.
  28.  Because of the location of head and neck cancer, it often affects breathing, eating, voice, speaking, and appearance.
  29.  50% of people with head and neck cancers have very advanced cases by the time they first see a doctor.
  30.  South Carolina is 2nd in the United States in deaths from head and neck cancer.
  31.  White patches in the mouth that will not rub off develop into about 4-18% of cancers.
  32.  Red patches in the mouth that are persistent, and do not have an obvious cause can develop into cancer about 20-30% of the time. Removal is highly recommended.
  33.  Thyroid cancer can develop in anyone, although there often is a family history or exposure to radiation involved. Salivary glands also do not seem to be related to any particular cause.
  34.  Only about 1 in 20 thyroid nodules are cancerous.
  35.  The two most common types of thyroid cancer are called papillary carcinoma and follicular carcinoma.
  36.  Thyroid cancer is more common in women than in men.
  37.  In general, thyroid cancer is one of the least deadly cancers of the head and neck.
  38.  The most common type of cancer in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses is squamous cell carcinoma. It makes up a little over a half of the cancers.
  39.  Cancers of the nasal and paranasal cancers are rare; about 2000 people develop these cancers every year.
  40.  Men are about 50% more likely to get nasal and paranasal cancer than women.
  41.  People who work in environments with dust, glues, formaldehyde, mustard gas, and radium are at higher risk for developing nasal and paranasal cancer.
  42.  Salivary cancer is not just one disease. There are several different glands found inside and near the mouth.
  43.  Several types of cancers can start in the salivary glands.
  44.  Every year there are about 2 cases per every 100,000 people of salivary cancer.
  45.  The average age that salivary cancer is found is 64.
  46.  Once cancer is in the lymph nodes, it is more likely to spread into the soft tissues.
  47.  Patients with cancers treated in the early stages may have little post treatment disfigurement.
  48.  Regular check-ups can detect the early stages of oral cancer or conditions that may lead to oral cancer.
  49.  If cancer is diagnosed, your doctor must then determine at what stage (extent) your cancer is, and the best method of treatment.
  50.  It is important to maintain a healthy diet, high in fruit and vegetables, and receive screenings regularly to lower your chance of developing Oral, Head and Neck cancer.
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