Tooth decay in children is an occurring health condition.  Due to dental issue children miss 52 million hours from school every year. If dental problems are left untreated children will develop further health problems.  30% to 50% of children between 4 and 5 years old already struggle with tooth decay.

There are many reason for this problem but a few are due to the fact that dental benefits are not provided though the parents employer.  Some parents fail to acknowledge the important of early dental care for kids. Children of low income families are more predisposed to developing tooth decay and Dental care cost is too expensive for children.

The FBI warns about two types of funeral and cemetery fraud perpetrated on seniors.

In one approach, scammers read obituaries and call or attend the funeral service of a complete stranger to take advantage of the grieving widow or widower. Claiming the deceased had an outstanding debt with them, scammers will try to extort money from relatives to settle the fake debts.

Another tactic of disreputable funeral homes is to capitalize on family members’ unfamiliarity with the considerable cost of funeral services to add unnecessary charges to the bill.

In one common scam of this type, funeral directors will insist that a casket, usually one of the most expensive parts of funeral services, is necessary even when performing a direct cremation, which can be accomplished with a cardboard casket rather than an expensive display or burial casket.

As we draw closer to the end of the year this is a reminder to use your dental benefits.  Many people do receive dental benefits though their employment but still do not visit the dentist and use the benefits they receive.  Also companies will tend to review the employee benefits offer and will normally make changes in the beginning of the year. Therefore it is best to take care of all your dental needs before any changes take place.

Most commonly, counterfeit drug scams operate on the Internet, where seniors increasingly go to find better prices on specialized medications.

This scam is growing in popularity—since 2000, the FDA has investigated an average of 20 such cases per year, up from five a year in the 1990s.

The danger is that besides paying money for something that will not help a person’s medical condition, victims may purchase unsafe substances that can inflict even more harm. This scam can be as hard on the body as it is on the wallet.

Proper dental care right from the start will make fore health teeth that will last your child lifetime.   The AAPD (American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry) recommends that a child should be seen by a dentist when their first tooth appears.   A good Pediatric dental office loves to see children in the office and will often provide a friendly visit for first-time patients. Many times children are shown around the office, they are shown dental instruments, have a ride in the dental chair and, if ready, a cleaning and check-up.  Making the visit to the dentist an enjoyable one.

Every U.S. citizen or permanent resident over age 65 qualifies for Medicare, so there is rarely any need for a scam artist to research what private health insurance company older people have in order to scam them out of some money.

In these types of scams, perpetrators may pose as a Medicare representative to get older people to give them their personal information, or they will provide bogus services for elderly people at makeshift mobile clinics, then use the personal information they provide to bill Medicare and pocket the money.

There are good benefits to fruit juice, however just like soda they can still be harmful to your child teeth.  According to the head of a leading Dentistry University in Australia, juices, contain citric acid which can dissolve the hard structures of your teeth, especially the exposed roots and the enamel, which leaves the inner parts of teeth exposed. This, in turn, leads to tooth sensitivity.  The healthiest drink you can give your child is water but you do not have to stop all other drinks. Give limited amounts of fruit juice and soda and have your child drink out of a straw to limit contact on there teeth.

Scams come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and more and more of them are targeting our elders. The National Commission on Aging put together a list of the top 10 scams affecting seniors in 2013.

1. Health Care/Medicare/Health Insurance Fraud

2. Counterfeit Prescription Drugs

3. Funeral & Cemetery Scams

4. Fraudulent Anti-Aging Products

5. Telemarketing – “The Pigeon Drop”  “The Fake Accident Ploy” and  “Charity Scams”

6. Internet Fraud – Email/Phishing Scams

7. Investment Schemes

8. Homeowner/Reverse Mortgage Scams

9. Sweepstakes & Lottery Scams

10. The Grandparent Scam

Many children like to be able to show their independence by doing tasks, such as brushing their teeth, on their own. Even if your child is still not correctly brushing you should let them brush their teeth either before or after you have correctly brushed their teeth.

This can be done in steps in a way to teach your child how to brush correctly.  Letting them have some time to brush their teeth too may make it fun for them.  More a child wants to brush their teeth the better.   By the time your child is around six they should be able to correctly brush their teeth on their own.

When you are confident that your child is capable of brushing alone, you may want to buy an timer and time your child’s brushing to make sure they are brushing for the recommended two minutes. Do a final inspection of your child mouth. This gives you a chance to check for any teeth that have been missed, visually show your child the area and demonstrate how he should brush in that area too.  And remember to praise your child on a job well done.

Where can people turn to get unbiased information about the quality of care provided by the thousands of doctors, hospitals, and long-term care providers in California? A new website, CalQualityCare.org, is one good place to go. It was recently created as a one-stop resource to compare hospitals, medical groups, and long term care facilities. CalQualityCare.org is the result of a partnership between the California Healthcare Foundation (CHCF) a non-profit philanthropy, and Consumer Reports and their commitment to ensure all Californians have access to better healthcare.

Free and easy-to-use, the website features rating information on California hospitals, medical groups, nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities, and reviews a range of measures—such as patient experience, nursing home staffing levels, and hospital quality (including ER wait times). In addition, CalQualityCare.org provides tips and checklists about how to choose a health care provider, questions to ask, how to pay for care, and what to do if something goes wrong.

Did you know that cheese can help you protect your child teeth from tooth decay?  By offering your child a piece of cheese after a meal or snack the cheese helps neutralizing the harmful acids from the mouth. In addition, cheese helps to make tooth enamel stronger and becoming a perfect barrier that will protect from tooth caries.

The dramatic images of natural disasters in recent years, including hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and the Tohoku, Japan, earthquake and tsunami, show that nature, not the people preparing for hazards, often wins the high-stakes game of chance.”We’re playing a high-stakes game against nature without thinking about what we’re doing,” geophysicist Seth Stein of Northwestern University said.

Babies can start teething as soon as three months but normally for most babies teething beings around six to seven months.  The first teeth that will usually appear will be the lower incisors (front teeth).

As your child grows and develop more teeth, you can use a toothbrush that is designed for your child’s age. Avoid using toothpaste that contains fluoride until your child is old enough to understand that swallowing the toothpaste should be avoided.

We continue to receive reports of new phone scams. Yet while the “title” of the scam may change, the fundamental tactics are the same. Below is a warning of two recent scams reported to us this month, followed by a list of common tactics. This list provides a helpful reminder of what to watch out for to protect yourself from fraud and to report it when encountered.

Two Recent Scams:

New Medicare benefits phone scam: In this scam, a caller claims to be a Medicare representative and wants you to know all about Medicare’s new and improved benefits. The caller than asks you to verify your Medicare number, primary physician information and current health conditions. Remember, Medicare will never call you to report on new benefits, AND will not ask you for your personal information. Medicare already has it. Hang up and report this number to our Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) helpline at 855-613-7080.)

Medical device alert robocall phone scam: In this scam, a beneficiary receives a call from recording (also referred to as a “robocall”) which says, “You have been recommended to receive this device by a physician … dial 1 to continue …” You will know if a medical device is recommended by your doctor through a direct one-on-one conversation with him or her, not through a phone call. This is a scam. Hang up and report the number to SMP.

Common Phone Scam Tactics:

• Fraudsters often call consumers early in the a.m.
• The sales pitch is done rapidly, usually with a foreign accent
• Callers deliberately confuse people into believing they represent Social Security or Medicare
• Caller promises a new Medicare card or medical card
• Caller offers free medical alert equipment (or other free equipment or supplies) to get their checking account information, credit card and/or Medicare number

Again, if you come across any of these scenarios, see if you can get some information on the caller and their number, hang up and report the scam to our Senior Medicare Patrol at 855-613-7080.

Oral hygiene is just as important to infants as to children and adults.  Even though a baby may not have teeth you still need to provide for daily oral hygiene for your infant.  Infants require daily oral hygiene, because the tissues in the mouth require cleansing to prevent irritation and infection.  Thrush is a treatable fungal infection caused by yeast that often appears in areas of the mouth that may have torn tissue, due to the constant sucking of a pacifier, bottle, or during breastfeeding. The tiny tears remain moist, and if not removed, the yeast can cause this painful condition.

People are much less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior if they know that they are HIV-positive. Unfortunately, more than 18 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States are unaware of their HIV status, and about half of new HIV infections are transmitted from that “HIV unaware” population. For these reasons, HIV testing is at the forefront of HIV prevention strategies in the United States.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) may support these strategies, since gaining coverage increases the likelihood of being tested for HIV. We modeled the impact of the ACA on HIV testing, diagnoses, and awareness of being HIV-positive, assuming that only the eighteen states (and the District of Columbia) that had committed to expand Medicaid as of July 2013 did expand the program. We found that the ACA will result in an additional 466,153 people’s being tested for HIV and 2,598 new diagnoses of HIV by 2017. Among people living with HIV/AIDS who gain insurance through the ACA, the share of the HIV unaware will decline by 22 percent. The impact on both HIV testing and new diagnoses would be nearly 30 percent larger if all fifty states expanded Medicaid. Policy makers should consider such epidemiological benefits when analyzing insurance expansion policies.