The simple fact is that brushing can not reach the tight spaces between your teeth or under your gum-line. If you are only brushing your teeth you are only getting the job half done.  Which means you are more likely to have tooth decay, bad breath and gum disease. Flossing is easy and only takes a few minutes out of your day.

How to floss:  When flossing do not skimp. You want to use around 18 inches of dental floss.  Wind most of the floss around the middle finger on one hand, and the rest around the middle finger on the other hand leaving about 1 inch to floss your first tooth. Floss one tooth at a time. Use your thumbs and forefingers to gently pull the floss from the gum-line to the top of the tooth to scrape off plaque. Rub the floss against all sides of the tooth. Unwind to fresh floss as you progress to the next tooth.  Make sure to floss daily.

With more and more studies providing links between oral health and over all health care it is becoming clear just how important having good oral health is for your overall well being.  Brushing Tips to good oral health

1) Most people know to brush daily at least twice a day. However you also want to make sure you are using proper equipment to get the job done to the fullest.  Use toothpaste with fluoride, brush your teeth with a soft bristled toothbrush unless advise by a dentist to use a medium to hard bristled toothbrush.  Make sure the toothbrush you use fits your mouth comfortably.  You may want to use an electric toothbrush. Electric toothbrush are often time advise if you have arthritis or other problems that make it difficult to brush effectively.
2) keep your toothbrush clean.  Make sure to always rinse your toothbrush with water after brushing. Store your toothbrush in an upright position, and allow it to air dry until using it again. Do not routinely cover toothbrushes or store them in closed containers, which can encourage the growth of bacteria.
3) Keep your toothbrush as far away from the toilet as possible! There are 3.2 million microbes per square inch in the average toilet bowl. When you flush, aerosolized toilet funk is propelled as far as six feet, settling on the floor, the sink, and even, your toothbrush. Therefore you will want to put anything that goes inside your mouth behind closed doors (such as your medicine cabinet).
4) It is important to know when to replace your toothbrush. You will want to buy a new toothbrush or a replacement head for your electric or battery-operated toothbrush every three to four months, sooner if the bristles become frayed.

Providing good dental care right from the start will get your child on the right path to maintaining healthy gums and teeth for a life time.  Baby teeth are just as important as adult teeth. Baby teeth lets your baby chew food, make a nice smile and talk well. You baby’s first set of teeth also holds the space where permanent teeth will eventually be. They help guild their permanent teeth to grow in straight. Here are some basic dental health care tips to take proper care of your child teeth.

1) Clean you baby’s new teeth every day: When the teeth first come in, clean them by rubbing them gently with a clean wet washcloth. When your child gets a little older, use a child’s toothbrush.
2) Children under two years of age should not use toothpaste. Instead, use water to brush your  child’s teeth.
3) Do not let your baby go to sleep with a bottle that contains anything other then water. Doing so can leave milk, formula or juice sitting on your child teeth and cause dental cavities. This is also know as “baby-bottle tooth decay.”
4) Provide low-sugar snacks, such as fruits, cheese and vegetables to your child and avoid giving your child sticky, chewy candy.
5) Teach your children how to brush their teeth and the importance of keeping their teeth clean and having good oral habits
6) Take your children to the dentist regularly. The ADA recommends that children see their dentist starting no latter then the age of one.

With cost of living going up as well as cost of dental care it is very important to maintain proper dental care habits at home to help keep your dental care cost low and have healthy teeth and gums as you get older.     Here are some basic dental health care tips
1) Brush your teeth at least twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste.
2) Make sure to floss your teeth daily
3) Do not smoke or chew tobacco.
4) Ask your doctor if your medicines have side effects that might damage your teeth. If you    have to take medicines that may have side effects on your dental health make sure to tell    your dentist.  You may have to see the dentist more often in order to maintain your       dental health care needs.
5) Regularly look inside your mouth for sores that do not heal, irritated gums or any other    oral changes.
6) See your dentist regularly for your dental check ups and cleanings
7) If you do start to have any dental problems with your teeth or if you have concerns about    your mouth, see your dentist right away.
8) And remember that by maintaining dental insurance will help keep your dental care cost    more affordable.

Recent natural disasters illustrate vulnerability of older people: majority of deaths from the Great East Japan Earthquake (2011) and Hurricane Katrina (2005) occurred among older people.

Multiple level, inter-agency and grassroots efforts to combat fraud are paying off, as confirmed in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) recent announcement of record breaking recovery results for 2012. Our own Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) team has directly contributed to this success in recovering over $1.6 million to Medicare in 2012, among other successes. These local efforts, combined with the increased coordination and partnerships among the Justice Department, HHS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), local law enforcement agencies and community organizations and the expansion of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams are making a huge difference in eliminating fraud.

Some of the highlights in HHS’ press release include:

• For every $1 invested in health care fraud investigations, the government recovered $7.60. This is the highest amount recovered in the 16 years of actively combating fraud.
• Health care fraud and prevention efforts recovered a record $4.2 billion in taxpayer dollars in 2012.
• In the past 4 years, the government’s investigation and enforcement efforts have recovered $14.9 billion, up from $6.7 billion during the previous 4-year period.
• As a result using the new Automated Provider screening system that quickly identifies ineligible and potentially fraudulent providers and suppliers prior to enrollment or revalidation, nearly 150,000 ineligible providers have already been eliminated from Medicare’s billing system.
• Between May 2011 and May 2012, 150,000 providers lost the ability to bill Medicare due to ACA requirements and other initiatives.

Also, according to the press release, the Medicare strike force coordinated a takedown with the largest number of fraudulent Medicare billings in the history of the strike force teams.  The takedown involved 107 people in 7 cities, including doctors and nurses who were charged for their alleged participation in these Medicare fraud scams, involving about $452 million in false billings.

Much of this success is directly related to the Obama Administration’s commitment to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse. Also, the Affordable Care Act provides multiple new tools for combating and preventing fraud, including “enhanced screenings and enrollment requirements, increased data sharing across the government, expanded recovery efforts for overpayments and greater oversight of private insurance abuses.”

For more information, see the Health Care Fraud and Abuse (HCFAC) Program report. Also see the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ press release.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a final rule for the Affordable Care Act that will make buying health coverage easier for consumers. The rule will also expand service coverage for mental health and substance use disorders, including behavioral health treatment. A new HHS report explains the expanded benefits for mental health and substance use disorders and the federal protections for equal health treatment that will affect 62 million Americans.

One in three people who survived stays in an intensive care unit (ICU) and required use of a mechanical ventilator showed substantial post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms that lasted for up to two years, according to a new Johns Hopkins study of patients with acute lung injury.

For chronic pain sufferers, such as people who develop back pain after a car accident, avoiding the harmful effects of stress may be key to managing their condition. This is particularly important for people with a smaller-than-average hippocampus, as these individuals seem to be particularly vulnerable to stress. These are the findings of a study by Dr.

UPMC is the first center in North America to enroll patients into a Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical trial that will test whether the insertion of small coils can collapse diseased lung areas and improve both lung function and exercise tolerance among patients with advanced emphysema. UPMC pulmonologists on Feb. 21 performed the procedure on a 65-year-old Hampton woman in a newly launched study that aims to recruit 315 patients across 30 U.S. and European centers.

Two years after starting to receive four doses of a cat allergy treatment, patients continue to show fewer signs of itching eyes and nose, watery eyes and sneezing, say McMaster researchers.

For chronic pain sufferers, such as people who develop back pain after a car accident, avoiding the harmful effects of stress may be key to managing their condition. This is particularly important for people with a smaller-than-average hippocampus, as these individuals seem to be particularly vulnerable to stress. These are the findings of a study by Dr.

In a new study, US scientists suggest gut bacteria form part of a complex system that maintains the body’s blood pressure. They have discovered a specialized odor-sensing receptor normally present in the nose can also be found in blood vessels throughout the body. In the gut, the receptor reacts to small molecules generated by bacteria by raising blood pressure. The study may aid understanding of how antibiotics, probiotics, and changes in diet affect blood pressure.

After World War II, with millions of American GI’s returning home, President Harry Truman appointed General Omar Bradley to run the Veterans Administration. Bradley was a popular choice, and his steely approach to helping veterans was widely admired.

“We are dealing with veterans, not procedures; with their problems, not ours,” Bradley famously said.

You’ll find the same kind of commitment to today’s generation of veterans in the Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus, a bipartisan group of 37 Senators and 27 Representatives brought together by the joblessness crisis among our returning military heroes.

More than two million Americans have served our nation in Iraq, Afghanistan and other post 9/11 missions around the world. Now, as these men and women return home, they are confronting yet another challenge – finding a job.

Immigration is a hot topic in Washington, and for good reason: reforming our immigration policies will finally bring our laws in line with economic and societal realities. Embedded in every immigration reform proposal is a mandate for employers to use an electronic employment eligibility verification system, also known as E-Verify, on workers. Legislators looking at mandatory E-Verify proposals should proceed with caution: if implemented incorrectly, E-Verify could cause job losses to U.S. citizen and work authorized individuals, massive economic hardship, and lead to widespread workplace rights violations.

Many people know that good dental habits include brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing daily. However many more people tend to forget their tongue.  Using germ killing mouthwash helps, yet you still want to include brushing your tongue with either your toothbrush or a tongue scraper in your daily dental care habits.  Bacteria that settle on you tongue can cause halitosis otherwise know as bad breath.