Health Corner

World Oral Health Day

World Dental Federation has designated September 12 as World Oral Health Day in order to create global awareness about oral health and educate people on the impact of oral diseases on overall health and well-being. Dr Gopalakrishnan,professor of Periodontology and secretary general of the International Clinical Dental Research Organisation,said that in India,this day is especially significant because of the low standards of oral hygiene practised within the country. Studies show that a majority of people,56 per cent,brush only once a day and an appalling 32 per cent have never gone to the dentist. The topmost oral health complaints in the country are tooth decay,gum problems and bad breath. According to the oral health experts,however,a lot of people suffer from oral health complaints without being aware of them and at times it can impact a person’s quality of life.

Eye donation

Rotary Club of Poona Downtown held a function on the occasion of the eye donation fortnight to felicitate eye donors. ‘Honoring Eye Donors’ is an annual programme to remember and felicitate families who have literally lit up people’s lives through their gifts of vision. When this project was launched a decade back,the eye banks had only about 75 donors; today there are over 850. Rotarians Jitu Mehta,Pradeep Munot and Arun Oswal have worked actively towards the cause. Mehta underlines the need for more awareness about eye donation and said that the Rotary Club of Poona Downtown wholeheartedly supported the cause by playing a catalytic role in sensitisation and awareness,and motivating people to pledge their eyes for donation after death.

Cardiac workshop

‘Chronic Total Occlusion’ – a cardiac workshop was held recently at Jehangir Hospital. “This condition accounts for a substantial 10 per cent of all Angioplasty procedures,” informed Dr J S Dugal,head of Cardiology at Jehangir Hospital. “Crossing the complex lesion and re-entering the true lumen remains the key step in successfully performing the angioplasty,” said Dr Alfredo Galassi,an Italian Cardiologist who demonstrated some specialised CTO techniques at this workshop. He is Professor of Cardiovascular Disease at University of Catania as well as University of Roma “La Sapienza”,Italy. He went on to describe how the blockages are crossed using special plastic coated ‘fielder wires’ as against routine Stainless Steel wires. “These soft wires are able to navigate into the microchannels that are present in all CTOs and find their way into the true lumen of the blood vessel. This really is the key to opening CTOs.”

(Compiled by Anuradha Mascarenhas)