Many of the dental and oral problems we see in children such as tooth decay, dental abscess, tooth loss, toothache, and bad breath could be easily prevented with periodic professional teeth cleanings.

“Whether or not your children have dental problems, you take them to a nearby pediatric dentist. These preventive care visits assure your children have strong teeth in the future. Periodic dental visits help dentists to prevent any abnormal dental conditions like tooth decay, gum diseases etc,” said Nirupama Rao, a Hyderabad based pediatric dentist.

“Even the crooked or irregular teeth in children can be avoided.” She added.

Many parents bring their children to a pediatric dentist when something goes wrong. Now this makes the dentist use some of the equipment that causes “dental fear” in children.

On the other hand, the children who frequently visit a periodic dentist have good exposure to a dental office climate, and they normally don’t fear a dentist.

Dental experts suggest parents to take their children to a pediatric dentist by the time of their first birthday.

One of the common things we see in the children with asthma is their inactiveness. Also the lack of motivation and fear of asthma attacks in kids often keep their bodies away from getting the required physical activity.

Researchers from the University of Stirling are working with psychological experts, artists and animators to help them in encouraging asthma children to do exercise.

Researchers are educating children with the help of 3D animations and presentations that help them in visualizing and understanding what’s going on under their chest. The researchers are also showing the link between inactivity and breathlessness to the asthma affected children and their parents.

There are studies that show exercise being a help to the asthma patients, as it can significantly increase the cardiovascular health in them. But normally we see majority of the asthma patients, especially the teens linking their inactiveness to the asthma.

By taking proper asthma treatment, and under the suggestions and guidance of the doctor, an asthma patient should try to be more active participating in the physical activities such as exercise.

“Studies show that young people with asthma can exercise safely if appropriately treated and can significantly improve their cardiovascular fitness and quality of life by doing so. However, young people with asthma are even less likely to be physically active than their peers and they attribute this to their asthma,” said lead researcher Professor Brian Williams.

A diet rich in essential vitamins and minerals not only keeps the vision sharp, but also helps in reducing the risk of serious eye condition such as cataracts, corneal infections and the retinal detachments.

Foods that are rich in vitamin A are important for the eye health. Carrots are often linked to the greater eye health and rightly so. A single carrot alone can fulfill the daily vitamin A requirements of the body.

Avocado, broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, milk and eggs are all considered as best foods when comes to providing eyes the vitamin A they need.

The modern food habits are certainly not helping people in getting the required vitamins, minerals and the nutrients. The junk food is replacing the healthy greenie food in the developed countries like United States.

The healthcare experts, especially the eye doctors are urging people to include vitamin A rich foods in their daily diet to prevent developing complicated eye disorders in the later stages. According to them, the poor diet is one of the major reasons why a lot of children are wearing glasses at very young age.

The parents or the relatives of these kids are bringing the blood from the various blood banks in the town. Doctors at the civil hospital said that blood banks need to be much more careful in screening the donors’ blood.

They also pointed out at the lack of high end HIV screening equipment in the district which is making it difficult for the local banks to screen the donated blood for HIV.

A doctor from the civil hospital said, “Blood banks screen for HIV but many times, if the blood donor is in the ‘window period’, it is difficult to detect the HIV virus and the risk remains.”

The Red Cross society members from the state of Gujarat said the state lacks some advanced HIV tests such as Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT), and urged the doctors and healthcare professionals to save the remaining kids from HIV.

Thalassemia is a genetic disorder in which the body forms an abnormal hemoglobin compound which increases the rate of destruction of red blood cells, causing a condition called anemia.

The Thalassemia patients need to undergo a periodic blood transfusion, without which they can’t survive for too long.

Most of the parents around the world, overlook the need of a pedodontist, and gives a little or no care to the oral health of their children. But it’s a good idea to plan a preventive care visit to the nearest pediatric dentist. It would help child to have stronger teeth when they grow up, which would significantly cut down future expenditures on dental care treatments.

Nowadays, there are lots of advanced dental care treatments available for the children which could keep them away from some of the serious oral health conditions. With lot of advancements in technology, growing competition among the pedodontists, a dental office visit could well be a lot of fun for the kids.

A pediatric dentist can cure various dental conditions in the children. Pediatric root canal treatment (root canal for children), fillings, crowns, teeth cosmetic veneers and teeth cleansing are some of the dental care services which are offered by pediatric dentist.

With the advanced techniques, most of the treatments such as painless root canal treatment have gained a lot of popularity, and a visit to the dentist these is no longer a scary thing for a kid!

As per the new study conducted by the British scientists, the babies of the obese mothers are at a higher life risk. Scientists from England carried out the study on over 41,000 pregnant women from the year 2003 to 2005.

According to the findings of this study, the babies of the mothers whose BMI is above 30, carries two times higher risk of life than the babies of the mothers who aren’t overweight.

Infant death is a common problem among many countries. However, in this study, the infant/fetal death percentage of the normal weight women was found to be 0.9%, which is about 9 in 1000 women. On the other hand, the infant death rate has jumped up to 1.6% among the women who has a BMI of 30 or above.

Though the researchers couldn’t give a clear explanation about the link between fetal/infant deaths and the obesity, this study findings have clearly showed the negative impact of the obesity on pregnancy.

Research author, Judith Rankin said, “There are likely to be a number of reasons why obesity is associated with fetal and infant death and we don’t yet know the full story.”

Doctors around the globe are suggesting women to maintain a perfect weight before they become pregnant. Overweight during pregnancy can pose serious health risks to both the mother and child.

Not just the Asthma, the winter will bring a lot of respiratory problems to the children in India. Due to the sudden weather changes and the cool winds, respiratory problems like tonsillitis, pneumonia, laryngitis etc hit children mainly.

The common symptoms of the respiratory disorders that occur in the winter season are sore throat, cough, wheezing, fever and headache.

The doctors advised the patients, and the parents of the patients, to be very careful during the winter season. Doctors are advising parents to take their children to the doctors if they find any of the symptoms mentioned above.

If neglected, even the normal respiratory disorders could develop into some serious problems like asthma and pneumonia.

The survey revealed that 22 percent of school children ate food items from vending machines, which are poor in nutrition. It was seen that 88 percent high schools, 52 percent middle schools and 16 percent elementary schools had vending machines.

Vending machines churn out soft-drinks by the dozen as well as desserts and fried snacks that are totally unhealthy. In fact, these high-calorie and high-sugar foods are low on Vitamin B, iron and dietary fibers, leading to a variety of medication problems among children who consumed them.

Childhood obesity as well as diabetes, cardio-vascular troubles and coronary artery diseases are but an indication as to how a child might be affected by these vended foods. Kakarala points out, that chronic health problems like these can be however avoided if schools were to make an effort to make available healthier snacks via their vending machines. Healthier snacking options that are fiber-rich and high in nutrients include fresh fruit, yogurt, low-fat milk, juice and sandwiches. In fact, the Child Nutrition Act, a major federal legislation that determines school food policy, stresses on the need for promoting the importance of healthy snacks.

Weight related issues were found to be higher in less affluent localities, with Corona, Queens (51 percent), Harlem (49 percent) and Washington Heights (47 percent) posting the highest rates of obesity.

Children from the more affluent neighborhoods were found to have a lower rate of obesity, for instance Hudson River in Manhattan stood at 11.7 percent, TriBeCa stood at 15 percent and SoHo was marked 17.7 percent.

Weight problems have been gradually on the increase over the past few years. Reports show that childhood obesity that had been determined to be 6.5 percent in 1980 has more than doubled to stand at 19.6 percent in 2008.

Childhood obesity is linked with numerous other medical situations including high cholesterol and high blood pressure, bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, asthma, and diabetes mellitus as well as social and psychological problems like stigmatization and low self-esteem.

Weight loss programs for overweight and obese children should begin with physical activity and healthy eating. It is equally important that kids burn energy by participating in a lot of physical exertions like games and other activities as well as eat foods that are fiber-rich in carbohydrates.

Now this research has shown mothers who breastfeed their babies for relatively longer times are less likely to develop the type 2 diabetes. This means, mothers who don’t breastfeed their babies are likely to develop the diabetes risk twice more than that of the mothers who breastfeed.

By breastfeeding babies, mothers will lose weight they have added during the pregnancy. If a women stop breastfeeding their babies, the chances are high that she retains the fat in the body that was added during the pregnancy.

Often fat is linked to many obesity related diseases. Excess weight is one of the key causes of diabetes in people. So, when moms breastfeed their babies, they are less likely to develop the risk of diabetes.

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that new mothers should breastfeed their babies for at least 6 months. According to the surveys, only 14% of the new mothers breastfeed their babies for 6 months or more!

This research was led by Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz from the University of Pittsburgh.