You and your dentist

How to get most from your partnership

Think of relationship between you and your dentist as a partnership, your dentist can offer a range of dental treatment options for many oral health problems. Theses option will vary in complexity, durability and cost but working together, you can choose treatment options that best suit your needs and budget.

A good dentist will explain each treatment option, including it's benefits and drawbacks. It is important that you tell your dentist about yourself and your needs and you shouldn't be afraid to ask dental team questions if necessary in order to help you understand their oral treatment recommendations.

The key to all good relationships is trust and understanding as it should be between you and your dentist, you should therefore try to build a relationships based on open and honest communication. A good dental team will be more than happy to explain oral care program they are proposing for you but if you don't understand any aspect you may want to ask some or all of following questions.

That's a mouthful. But without cholesterol body cannot make sex hormones, adrenal hormones, and vitamin D. Excess cholesterol is converted in the liver to bile acids, which are normally eliminated in feces.

Some experts feel high levels of cholesterol have very little to do with dietary intake of it. There is a correlation between blood cholesterol levels and incidence of coronary artery disease. One must, however, distinguish between total blood cholesterol level and cholesterol portion in the blood carried by HDL (high-density lipoprotein).   Before you begin a strict program to reduce cholesterol blood levels, check total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol ratio first. This risk ratio can be determined by a simple blood test by any medical doctor.

There does exist hope, however, when one has reason for concern over their blood work. But remember--the body is a fantastic mechanism and always moves itself toward health. To help it along, it needs proper information.

This "information" that I speak of has to do with more than adequate nutrition. In addition to eating more raw fruits and vegetables, and drinking pure water, try to locate a sound nutritional supplier. Years ago, Dr. Linus Pauling's work demonstrated value of vitamin C in helping body dislodge and eliminate harmful arterial plaque. If you were to go to your favorite health store or drug store for vitamin C, you probably would not receive same benefits as Dr. Pauling did. Why is that? (Pauling, Linus & Cameron, Ewan. "Cancer and Vitamin C." Camino Books. Philadelphia, PA, 1993.)