Read these healthy living tips on saving teeth enamel, alternative therapy for stress incontinence, and overactive bladder.
- Healthy Living Short Take #1: Saving your tooth enamel. Acidic foods and drinks such as fruit juice, soft drinks, pickles, yogurt, and wine can soften tooth enamel for a short time. Brushing while enamel is soft can wear away this protective coating and make your teeth more vulnerable to decay. Saliva restores the pH balance in the mouth but it can take longer to work after acidic foods or several soft drinks are consumed. The Academy of General Dentistry suggests chewing sugar-free gum to stimulate saliva flow or rinsing your mouth with water for 30 seconds after eating a heavily acidic meal.
- Healthy Living Short Take #2: Alternative therapy for stress incontinence. Although surgery is the most effective treatment for stress urinary incontinence (leakage caused by a cough or exertion), collagen injections may be a better option for women with health problems or commitments that preclude a lengthy convalescence. After one year, the success rate of collagen was 19% lower than that of surgery, but immediately following treatment, women who received collagen were happier with their treatment, perhaps owing to fewer side effects: 63% of women reported at least one side effect after surgery compared with 36% of women who received collagen.
- Healthy Living Short Take #3: Overactive bladder. Contrary to popular belief, the bladder does not shrink with age. Researchers found that there was no difference in the bladder capacity of 90 women between the ages of 22 and 90. The results suggest that the increased need to urinate as you get older may be caused by overactive bladder, a condition linked to aging in which bladder muscles go into spasm before the bladder has completely filled. Overactive bladder can be treated with bladder retraining exercises, less fluid intake, and medications.