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Hygiene Tribune U.S. Edition

HYGIENE TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Hygiene Newspaper ·U.S. Edition February 2015 — Vol. 8, No. 2 www.dental-tribune.com By Patricia Walsh, RDH, Hygiene Tribune Editor in Chief W hile anxiously waiting for the “Downton Abbey” tele- vision series to start up again, I got my English his- tory fix by reading the history of Went- worth Castle. The book covered the trials and tribulations of an aristocratic family in a home three times the size of Bucking- ham Palace. I was taken by surprise when the author mentioned the cause of death of a high-ranking nobleman as “quinsy throat.” In modern times, with the arrival of an- tibiotics, you wouldn’t hear of this — at least not in a developed nation. The more I thought about it, I don’t think I had heard the term “quinsy sore throat”for a very long time. Around here, if your throat is starting to close off, you’ve probably gotten yourself to an emergency room “pronto.” It is an abscess in the peritonsil- lar area that often needs drainage. While tonsillitis is more common in children, both kids and adults are sus- ceptible to quinsy. One can only assume that if the breathing restrictions don’t kill you, the resulting septicemia might later. A quinsy sore throat can infect both the blood supply and individual organs. I can recall having my tonsils painted with iodine by the school nurse when I was starting to “come down with some- thing.” A tall canister of extra long cotton swabs were one of the staples of her office. I can’t say whether there’s any scien- tific proof that tonsil painting reduced cases of severe tonsillitis. But I do know that some homeopathic remedies call for gargling with a watered down Betadine solution even today. I’ve also heard that eating three or four marshmallows helps to soothe a sore throat. Apparently it has something to do with the gelatin. I sup- pose if you’re not eating at all, any caloric intake will do, so it might as well be fun! Washington's epiglottitis George Washington’s physician mentions his quinsy sore throat prior to his death at age 63. He was thought to have suffered from a quinsy sore throat that quickly turned into epiglottitis — most likely his cause of death. The swelling of his epiglot- tis cut off his air supply. He also suffered from malaria, TB and smallpox during his lifetime. How sad that it may have been a very bad sore throat that got him in the end. The blood-letting technique that was used at the time probably hindered his re- covery as well. When I was a dental hygiene student, we were occasionally brought to a local city clinic to do checkups on grammar school children. These children were the poorest of the poor and were seen on old WWII wooden field chairs. There was no money in the budget for fancy things like “dis- closing tablets.” Instead, we used iodine on long cotton swabs to paint the teeth and disclose the plaque. Our instructor kept the large bottle of iodine. The iodine that a physician uses is water-based as op- posed to the alcohol-based type available for home use. We used eye droppers to fill up our little green-glass dappen dishes for each patient. I would think the taste alone would put children off dentistry for some time to come. We rinsed their mouths with a rubber ball syringe, and they expectorated into a kidney basin. Considering the number of patients I cur- rently see with known iodine allergies, it’s amazing we never heard of any children having a reaction. Then again, people are now more “allergy aware” then they once were. There is probably an equal number of children with red-dye allergies who would have done no better with the mod- ern disclosing tablets. In spite of iodine’s unpleasant taste, I have been known to recommend subgin- gival irrigation with a Betadine solution (brand name for povidone-iodine). The key to this is the dosage. I tell the patient that if the water turns brown, they’ve added too much. There is a huge tempta- tion to use too much because most drug stores sell only very large bottles. But be- tween the bad taste and the potential for staining, it’s easy to see why less is more. Iodine kills the gram negative bacteria that live in the darker recesses of a deep perio pocket. There is another clinical application for iodine in dentistry. An iodine staining test used to assist in discerning attached gingiva as mentioned in “Periodontics Revisited” by Shalu Bathla, MD. The clini- cian can: “paint the gingiva and oral mu- cosa with Lugols solution (iodine,water and potassium iodide). The aveolar mu- cosa takes on a brown color owing to its glycogen content while the glycogen-free attached gingiva remains unstained. Measure the total width at the unstained gingiva and subtract the sulcus/pocket depth from it to determine the width of the attached gingiva.” In the Chernobyl disaster, some Lugols solution was used as an emergency source of iodide to block radiation iodine uptake, simply because it was widely available as a drinking water decontaminant, and pure potassium iodide without iodine (the preferred agent) was not available. Mama don't take my Mecurochrome away Mecurochrome and merthiolate were also very popular in my childhood. We proudly wore our hot pink tinctures over scraped knees like playground battle scars. When it was determined that mer- cury was detrimental to one’s overall health, Mecurochrome was banned from general use. The U.S. Food and Drug Ad- ministration put very strict limitations on the sale of Mercurochrome in 1998 and Reflecting on oral-health’s good old iodine days Commentary ” See IODINE, page B2 Tickets and sponsorships are available for Oral Health America’s 25th Annual Gala & Benefit, which is taking place Wednesday, Feb. 25, at the Hilton Chicago. In addition to being a major fundraiser for OHA’s programs that connect communities with resources to drive access to oral health care, the Gala & Benefit serves as a premier network- ing event for the dental industry. The gala averages almost 1,000 at- tendees each year, representing hundreds of companies, dentists and industry professionals. ‘Smiles Under Silver Stars’ The year’s theme, ‘Smiles Under Silver Stars,’ celebrates the 25th anni- versary of the gala and the 60th anniversary of OHA, which started in 1955 as the American Foundation for Dental Education to expand the pool of qualified dental educators. OHA’s history will be celebrated at a reception before the gala and with a presentation during the event. The evening will begin with a cocktail hour, followed by a culinary feast that organizers describe as being fit for the celebration. The eve- ning also features live music and live and silent auctions. The 2015 raffle, sponsored by Aspen Dental, is offering an oppor- tunity to win a 2015 Audi A3 Cabriolet. Raffle tickets can be purchased now for $100 each, with winners not needing to be present to win. Presenting sponsor of the gala is Kavo Kerr Group; technol- ogy sponsors are Ivoclar Vivadent and Patterson Dental; diamond sponsors are Colgate Palmolive, DentaQuest Foundation, DENTSPLY International, Henry Schein, Philips Sonicare, SciCan and Septodont; platinum sponsors are Darby Dental, DentalEZ and Midmark; and gold sponsors are Belmont Publications, Bisco, Burkhart, DentaPure, Unilever and Planmeca. To purchase tickets, raffle tickets, sponsorships or for additional information, you can visit www.oralhealthamerica.org/participate/ gala, or send an email to Brad McLaughlin at brad.mclaughlin@oral healthamerica.org, or call him at (312) 836-9900. (Source: Oral Health America) Oral Health America’s ‘Gala & Benefit’ celebrates 60th and 25th anniversaries Tickets on sale for Feb. 25 event in Chicago, with chance to win an Audi A3 Cabriolet The Oral Health America Gala & Benefit precedes the Chicago Midwinter Meeting. Photo/ Provided by Oral Health America Chicago BOOTH NO. 521

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