BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Patients admitted to a hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) already are seriously ill, so the last thing they need is a new infection. Unfortunately, statistics show that as many as 25 percent of all patients admitted to the ICU and placed on ventilators develop pneumonia, which can be fatal. Ventilator-associated pneumonia is a major cause of infection in the hospital.   Studies have shown that this infection can add $40,000 to costs and double one’s length of stay  in the hospital.  Ironically, it turns out that the patient's own dental plaque is a major source of germs causing ventilator-associated pneumonia.                                        Researchers from the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine presented findings at the International Association of Dental Research (IADR).  They showed that the same bacteria identified in dental plaque of patients when they were admitted to the ICU and placed on ventilators were found later in the lungs from those who subsequently developed pneumonia.                                   

 "Our study shows that a strong relationship exists between oral and respiratory pathogens in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia," said Paul Heo, D.D.S., a doctoral student in the UB dental school's Department of Oral Biology and first author on the study.    "We are saying that if the patients' mouths and teeth aren't cleaned while they are in the hospital, they may easily develop lung disease."          The presentation is part of a three-year double-blind study funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, headed by Frank A. Scannapieco, D.D.S., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Oral Biology.    The trial aims to determine if swabbing ventilated ICU patients' mouths with a bactericide protects them from developing pneumonia.    In this component, Heo and colleagues concentrated on three strains of suspected pathogens that are responsible for most hospital-acquired pneumonia: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Samples of plaque from teeth and of secretions from the trachea were obtained from ICU patients on the day of admission and every third day thereafter, up to 21 days. Bronchial alveolar lavage samples also were collected from those suspected of having developed pneumonia.                              

"These results suggest that the teeth likely serve as an important reservoir of infection in these patients," said Heo. "To prevent opportunistic, hospital-acquired disease, taking care of teeth and gums while hospitalized might be especially important."   Elaine M. Haase, Ph.D., research associate professor of oral biology, also contributed to the study.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. The School of Dental Medicine is one of five schools that constitute UB's Academic Health Center.

What does this study mean for you?

Research is uncovering ever-stronger links between the health of your mouth and the health of your body.  Even medical doctors who long considered dentistry to be a separate entity from medicine are now ordering their patients to “clean up their mouths” before a variety of surgical procedures.   Don’t get caught in a dental bind when you need a medical procedure.  Let us help you keep your mouth healthy 24/7 year-round.  As always, prevention is the best solution.

Our latest $50 winners

Every month we have a drawing for a $50 office credit.  We do this to thank our patients who make appointments that begin between 11 AM and 3 PM.   By scheduling during a less popular time period you help our office run more efficiently, so we enter you in our drawing.  Congratulations to Mike Friedel   for winning the January drawing,   to February winner Maggie Billbrough, and to March winner Cheryl Harner. 

 

A good credo

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.  He is not dependent on us.  We are dependent on him.  He is not an interruption in our work.  He is the purpose of it.  We are not doing him a favor by serving him.  He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to serve you.”

                      Mahatma Gandhi

 

Positive quote

“The world is moved not only by the mighty shoves of heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”

                       Helen Keller

 

The Teacher Story:

The Life-Changing Gift of Appreciation

                                                                          by Barbara Glanz

“In my keynote speeches and workshops, CARE is the acronym I use for the elements of a caring, creative, joyful workplace and home.  The ‘A’ in CARE stands for ‘Appreciation for ALL.’

As I speak about appreciation, I use this quote by Albert Schweitzer:  ‘Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being.  Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.’

Then I ask my audiences to please shut their eyes and think about someone who, at some time in their lives, has rekindled their inner flame.  I leave the room in silence for several minutes, and it is always a profound experience to see them remember the joy they received from being appreciated by someone when they needed it the most.

Afterwards I ask them to write down the name of the person they thought of and to make a commitment to their own act of appreciation by letting that person know in the next 72 hours that he or she was being thought about.  I suggest a phone call, a note, or even a thought or prayer if the person is no longer living.

After one moving session, a gentleman came up to talk with me and thanked me for creating a new awareness in him.  He said he thought of his eighth grade literature teacher because she was everyone’s favorite teacher and had really made a difference in all of their lives.  He planned to track her down and let me know what happened.

One afternoon nearly two and a half months later I received a call from him.  He was choked up on the phone and could hardly get through his story.  He said that it had taken him all that time to track his teacher down, and he wrote to her as soon as he finally found her.  The following week he received this letter:

‘Dear John,

You will never know how much your letter meant to me.  I am 83 years old and I am living all alone in one room.  My friends are all gone.  My family’s gone.  I taught for 50 years and yours is the first “thank you” letter I have ever gotten from a student.  Sometimes I wonder what I did with my life.  I will read and reread your letter until the day I die.’

 

He just sobbed on the phone.  He said, ‘She is always the one we talk about at every reunion.  She was everyone’s favorite teacher;  we loved her!  But no one had ever told her until she received this letter.’”

 

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Our team

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