How Does Alcohol Affect Oral Wellbeing

While alcohol may have damaging effects to one’s body, many benefits exist if one drinks responsibly. Many studies and cases do show alcohol can damage the liver and other parts of the body; however, when one drinks in a moderate manner many health benefits may exist. Alcohol helps to fight against various health conditions and risks common among many people,

Alcohol use has spanned history. In fact, there is speculation that alcohol use actually preceded the formation of societies (Doweiko, 2015, p. 30). Thus, alcohol has long been a part of mankind’s life. The function of alcohol has unarguably changed throughout the course of history, as it was first used for nutritional purposes and then later on for religious purposes (Doweiko, 2015, p. 32). Today, alcohol serves a social purpose. In the United States, the prevalence of use is quite high, with just over 50% of the population partaking monthly (Doweiko, 2015, p. 34). This statistic is somewhat alarming considering alcohol use comes with a number of potential adverse consequences. Case in point, even

“The impact of unmet oral health care needs is magnified by the well-established connection between oral health and overall health” (Fineberg, H. 2011, p. ix). Oral health status is linked with general health, as evidenced by the association between poor oral health and chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease. Poor oral hygiene can also lead to other health issues such as, oral facial pain and digestive problems. “The silent epidemic of oral diseases disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities,

Alcohol has been a mainstay of celebratory events throughout history and many people enjoy alcohol in a healthy way. Consuming moderate amounts of alcohol is even associated with health benefits such as reduced heart disease related mortality, and decreased risk of ischemic stroke and diabetes (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2005). Moderate consumption of alcohol, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, consists of up to 1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men. Despite the potential benefits of moderate alcohol intake, excessive alcohol consumption contributes to significant problems at the individual, community and societal levels.

While many people view consuming alcohol as charming, it is indeed detrimental to a person’s health and well-being. “[As of] 2013, 86.6 percent of people ages eighteen and older have drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime…56.4 percent reported that they drank in the past month” (NIAAA). Drinking is the cause of many accident inflicted hospital visits, increases the risk for a plethora of illness, and is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States (NIAAA).

Other factors that play a role in poor oral care is being disabled and homebound because this also leads to not seeking any oral care. There is Medicaid for individuals 65 and above to get insurance for dental care, however the reimbursements for care are very low and does not cover the entire cost of the treatment. According to the Division of Oral health (2013), “About 25 percent of adults 60 years old and older no longer have any natural teeth.’’ The elderly being toothless indicates a problem with nutrition because being toothless affects mechanical digestion of food. Toothlessness causes the elderly to prefer soft chewable foods and might not prefer to eat essential foods such as fruits, lean meats, poultry, fish, and legumes. Additionally, according to the Division of Oral health (2013), “Oral and pharyngeal cancers, which are diagnosed in some 31,000 Americans each year, result in about 7,400 deaths each year.” The elderly make up the majority of these diagnosed cancers, and these cases are related to smoking and the use of alcohol. The prognosis for this type of cancer is low, with a five-year survival rate for whites being about 56% and African americans being only about 34%. In addition, many older Americans are have polypharmacy therapy, and medication can cause dry mouth. “The reduction of the flow

International statistics reveal that Alcohol is attributed to 4% of total mortality and between 4- 5% of DALY’s (1, 2). Rhem et al notes that more than 25% of the global consumption is estimated to be unrecorded, due to lack of surveillance. This variance can create a higher global burden of disease attributable to Alcohol (2). According to the World Health Organisation (2014), overconsumption of Alcohol has been linked to the development of more than 200 diseases, making it the third highest risk leading to death and disability (1). Rhem et al conducted an analysis of the burden of disease attributable to Alcohol. In particular their analysis revealed that the pattern of drinking, volume and quality of alcohol consumed were causally linked to cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver cirrhosis and injury (2). The study also elucidates the notion that even with evidence based management strategies and widespread acceptance of the harms associated with the drug, Alcohol misuse is a significant issue in society. The net harms outweigh any notable benefits of Alcohol over consumption.

Overall, the argument the author makes regarding the ineffectiveness of dental care in preventing tooth decay is flawed because of differences between the two groups he had chosen to compare and arrive at his conclusion. It can be even argued that considering the diet habits and environmental factors in the United States without dental care the level of tooth decay could be much worse than that of children in

It’s no secret that wine can stain your teeth, but did you know that drinking alcohol can have other damaging effects to your oral health? Whether it be a daily nightcap, an occasional drink, or even some common “health” products you’d never suspect as harmful, alcohol intake can be the root cause of many costly mouth problems. Find out how this pervasive substance can wreak serious dental havoc, and what you can do about it.

Oral cancer is a devastating disease. Over eight thousand American lives are taken by oral cancer and only a fourth of these patients do not excessively drink alcohol or smoke tobacco, which are the two main causes of oral cancer (The Oral Cancer Foundation). Survival rates for oral cancer could be much higher if the population would take precautionary measures to reduce their chances of being diagnosed with oral cancer. When the use of alcohol and tobacco are decreased, the chances of acquiring oral cancer are also decreased. By visiting the dentist at least once every year, new lesions could be found. Unfortunately, only seven percent of the population, who visits the dentist regularly, receives a thorough oral cancer exam(The Oral

The data of this report are collected from Statistics Canada. The method of collection for the consumption of alcohol is done by calculating the sales of alcohol per year per people over the years 1950 to 2000 in different provinces of Canada. The data on alcohol-related mortality is collapsed measure of causes of death with explicit mention of alcohol, collected from government records. The data is collected from twelve Canada provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon and Northwest Territories.

4% of people over 65, and 25% of people over 85, are living in institutions. I will identify and assess factors which affect the oral health of older institutionalised patients and explore ways to target these risk factors and explore possible ways of improving the oral health in these patients. To investigate the oral care needs of elderly institutionalised patients I looked for studies on this group of patients in online journal databases. I found several enlightening studies on PubMed via the University library catalogue. I also searched using the Web of Science tool; this ranks results by the number of times they have been cited by other articles.

The increase consumption of alcohol and cigarettes are linked to visible signs of physical aging. The participants in the case study were given a short quiz about their general health and asked them to describe how much they drank and smoke. The signs to lookout for were earlobe creases; a greyish opaque coloured ring or arc around the peripheral cornea of both eyes (arcus corneae); yellow-orange plaques on the eyelids (xanthelasmata); and male pattern baldness (receding hairline or a bald patch on the top of the head) ( ). The results showed that analysis of drinking and smoking patterns revealed a consistently heightened risk of looking older than one's true age and developing arcus corneae, earlobe creases, and xanthelasmata among those who smoked and drank heavily. With this information given, I feel it is very important for me to look and feel healthy on the outside and inside. I needed to decrease the amount of alcohol in order to live longer. Before the beginning of my vegetarian transition I found it difficult to balance stress and

Alcoholism is one of the leading causes of mortality despite being preventable and avoidable. Alcohol may increase the aging process in addition to chronic diseases. Unfortunately, this is poorly understood among scholars and addicts. On the other hand, some studies note that light and moderate consumption of alcohol is effective in enhancing cognitive functions and lowering the incidence of dementia among aging individuals. However, there is a lack of data regarding the effects of alcohol consumption on aging subjects, given that a significant part of the evidence is associated with studies that focused primarily on elderly population samples. Furthermore, the effects of excessive

Smoking and alcohol consumption are well established as risk factors regarding oral cancer incidence. Previous studies indicated a possible additive effect of alcohol and tobacco on oral cancer risk, yet no observational studies in the last 25 years have accounted for their interaction. This study was initiated to elucidate smoking and drinking single, joint and interactive effects on oral cancer incidence. A hospital-based observational study collected patient data using questionnaires from 4 Sao Paulo, Brazil, hospitals, November 1998 to December 2008. Patients were recruited based on having squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity or oropharynx. Using 1,144 cases and 1,661 controls, age, gender and schooling level effects were assessed using logistic regression, and variables with significant odds ratios (ORs) for oral cancer were included in the models as confounders. Individual and joint effects of smoking and drinking on oral cancer risk were also assessed by logistic regression using ORs based on two types of analyses (models). In the first, exposure variables drinking and smoking were treated as binary (never, reference group; ever, risk group), and in the second categorized into three levels (never, reference group; level-1 and level-2, risk groups). Results indicated that independent effect of drinking was not associated with oral and oropharyngeal cancer, while the independent effect of smoking remained significantly associated with the