Tooth and ENT Doctor

While the eyes may be the window to the soul, your mouth is a window to your body's health. The state of your oral health can offer lots of clues about your overall health. Oral health and overall health are more connected than you might realize. Your oral health is connected to many other health conditions beyond your mouth. Sometimes the first sign of a disease shows up in your mouth. In other cases, infections in your mouth, such as gum disease, can cause problems in other areas of your body. Your mouth is normally teeming with bacteria. Usually you can keep these bacteria under control with good oral health care, such as daily brushing and flossing. Saliva is also a key defense against bacteria and viruses. It contains enzymes that destroy bacteria in different ways. But harmful bacteria can sometimes grow out of control and lead to periodontitis, a serious gum infection. When your gums are healthy, bacteria in your mouth usually don't enter your bloodstream. Howev...

A little robin named Sport decided he’d rather not fly south for the winter. As snow began to fly and the streams iced over, he reluctantly came to the conclusion that he'd made a big mistake --- that he'd better head south. As Sport rose high into the scurly sky, the air felt even colder and the winds more fierce. He flew as straight south as he could and yet the wind threw him about with utter disdain. After flying for what seems like forever, his wings began to ice over. Fly as he might, his wings soon froze to the point of almost no movement and so, he half glided half plummeted toward earth. Through frosted eyebrows he saw an open spot among the trees. Navigating as best he could, Sport plummeted into a farm yard and landed among the cows. He rolled over twice, skidded into a clump of hay and just lay there ruing the day he decided to spend the winter in Maine. At this very moment and with total unawareness of the robin, one of the cows came along an...

The recent Glorietta 2 blast reminds us of the hazards of domestically used gases. I am not discounting the possibility that a ‘bomb’ caused the explosion but I am more inclined to side on the theory that it was due to a gas leak somewhere. In this regard, I am posting a topic on carbon monoxide poisoning. This is a more common occurrence in our country compared to blasts caused by gas leaks. We are all susceptible to it because of our high exposure to the sources of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide (sometimes referred to as CO) is a colorless, odorless gas produced by burning material containing carbon. Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause brain damage and death. You can't see it, smell it, or taste it; but it can kill you. Common household appliances, like gas water heaters, charcoal grills, and gasoline-powered generators, produce carbon monoxide. It can also come from motor vehicle exhaust, smoke from fires, engine fumes, cigarette smoke, spray paint, solvents, degre...

Dengue is on the rise again. There are several reported outbreaks in Metro Manila and in the provinces. This is not new. In fact, in 2005, there were 21,537 cases of dengue in the Philippines. Two hundred eighty of these died. From January to August 2006, there were 13,468 cases with 167 dead. Indeed, just like flooding and political booboos, Dengue has become a mainstay of the colorful Philippine scenario. Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are acute febrile diseases caused by one of four closely related virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus , transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegyptii mosquito, which feeds during the day. This infectious disease is manifested by a sudden onset of fever, with severe headache, muscle and joint pains ( myalgias and arthralgias - severe pain gives it the name break-bone fever or bone crusher disease ) and rashes; the dengue rash is characteristically bright red petechia and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the...

“We are shrinking mindlessly into a culture of violence with no respect for the sanctity of life, where people are killed like chickens…”This was VACC founding chairman Dante Jimenez said in reaction to the incident where a certain lawyer allegedly shot 2 people at the height of an argument following a traffic accident involving their vehicles at the corner of Shaw Boulevard and Endriga street in Barangay San Antonio, Mandaluyong City. This news reminds me of a similar incident where a relative of mine was shot dead due to a scuffle in parking. It makes us really wonder how a driver can become so enraged on the road, enough to kill someone! I would admit that I love my car, I mean I value it as a property. I clean it often and have it fixed even for the slightest problem. On the road, I am so careful not to have it scratched or hit by anything that would leave a dent on it. Now I am thinking.Could this kind of 'attachment' to a car be the root of this so called ...

As timely as the “Desperate Housewives” issue, my competence as a physician was put to question recently. Since it was the first incident in my 7 years of medical practice, I didn’t know how to react. It was a mix of anger, disappointment and resentment. It took me some time to get over it and regain my confidence back. The doctor-patient relationship is considered to be essential in the practice of medicine. The physician and patient are supposedly in a partnership and both parties should openly discuss the management and ask questions in a trusting manner. This ideology stems from trying to maintain the most objective outlook by both parties – patient and doctor – in formulating and exercising optimal treatment plans. In fact, many health care professionals and patients claim that this trust and relationship is therapeutic in its own right. Unfortunately, this relationship was breached by my patient. Despite the explanations and clarifications I made at the start of treatmen...

Cluster headache is a rare type of primary headache, affecting 0.1% of the population. An estimated 85% of cluster headache sufferers are men. The average age of cluster headache sufferers is 28-30 years, although headaches may begin in childhood. It also does not have a clear cause, although alcohol and cigarettes can precipitate attacks. Cluster headaches are headaches that come in groups (clusters) lasting weeks or months, separated by pain-free periods of months or years. During the period in which the cluster headaches occur, pain typically occurs once or twice daily, but some patients may experience pain more than twice daily. Each episode of pain lasts from 30 minutes to one and one-half hours. Attacks tend to occur at about the same time every day and often awaken the patient at night from a sound sleep . The pain typically is excruciating and located unilaterally around or behind one eye. Some patients describe the pain as feeling like a hot poker in the eye. The affect...

Migraine headaches are the second most common type of primary headache. It affects children as well as adults. Before puberty, boys and girls are affected equally by migraine headaches, but after puberty, more women than men are affected. An estimated 6% of men and up to 18% of women will experience a migraine headache. It is caused by a combination of vasodilatation (enlargement of blood vessels) and the release of chemicals from nerve fibers that coil around the blood vessels. During a migraine attack, the temporal artery enlarges. (The temporal artery is an artery that lies on the outside of the skull just under the skin of the temple.) Enlargement of the temporal artery stretches the nerves that coil around the artery and cause the nerves to release chemicals. The chemicals cause inflammation, pain, and further enlargement of the artery. The increasing enlargement of the artery magnifies the pain. Migraine headaches often go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed as tension or sinu...