Wheat, barley and rye are my arch nemeses. Since being diagnosed with celiac disease in 2014, I look for these common food ingredients in everything I eat. Every single meal. Every single day. Luckily, I am not alone. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder estimated to affect one in 141 people in the United States, according to the October 2012 issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology, and most people don’t know they have it.
You’ve just started a new semester of school. You’re nearly two weeks in, not too overworked, but you already feel exhausted. Getting out of bed to get to school is a chore, and you’re left wondering where the zeal and excitement you had during your first semester went. This is a common routine for dental students around the country and is one of many manifestations of burnout.
“Health is wealth” is not just an expression, but a truth of life. Someone in good health can accumulate wealth, but illness can bring down even the wealthiest of empires. Every dentist longs to provide the best possible treatment to all their patients. However, in doing so, they may neglect their own health.
Meeting your health goals can be challenging, especially when finding a balance between healthy living and dental school. Your smart phone can be the perfect health tool, but you need to choose the right app. Health, exercise and nutrition can become both fun and accessible with the right apps. Whether you are taking your first steps towards a healthy lifestyle or looking to re-vamp your fitness routine, these four free health apps may make a difference!
In high school, I started going to the gym every day and avoiding junk food because I wanted to be healthier. I couldn’t run 400 meters without getting winded. I spent hours in front of my computer. My favorite Saturday lunchtime tradition was getting a pizza from Pizza Hut and eating it all myself. At first, exercising more and eating less junk food did make me feel healthier. I felt more alert. I could finally run a mile without stopping. I became more confident in myself and less clumsy when I walked.
But with my aspiring-dentist Type-A personality, exercise and eating became parts of my life that I liked to work on obsessively. When I moved away to college in Boston, hundreds of miles away from home, I was excited to make my own decisions.
We all know the expression “the eyes are the window to the soul.” As oral health professionals, we view the mouth as the window to the entire body. Studies have shown that good oral health correlates to better overall health. Contrarily, poor oral health has been linked to a long list of systemic diseases. A 2011 article in Diabetologia found a prominent link between oral health and diabetes.
I will always remember learning how to cut a crown preparation for the first time. As I sat in class and looked down at my hands, I wondered if they would ever be skilled and steady enough to refine a margin or achieve the perfect taper. I felt intimidated, but the crushing weight and pressure on my chest did not feel like normal school stress or anxiety. At that exact moment, life was literally throwing me a curve ball (or as I later found out, three).
In our lab session following class, I found myself struggling to catch my breath and felt extreme discomfort in my chest and arms. With the help of faculty members and classmates, I was taken to the emergency room, where I waited for hours with many unanswered questions. My diagnosis finally came: three pulmonary emboli. While it felt reassuring to know exactly what I was facing, I had no idea what a long struggle the recovery would be.
