Monthly Archives: March 2014

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
22nd March 2014

World Health Organisation Guidelines
The subject of sugar and its impact on health is very topical at the moment. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently issued revised guidelines for the healthy limit of sugar consumption, reducing this number to 5% of total calories consumed. This is due to the increasing awareness of the link between high-sugar foods and increase in weight gain/obesity and the associated diseases such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. WHO is particularly concerned about consumption of ‘free’ sugars. These are defined as sugars that are added to foods by manufacturers, and sugars that are naturally present in fruit juices, fruit concentrates, syrups and honey. Sugary drinks, such as soda, are possibly the most concerning.

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
8th March 2014

Wisdom teeth or third molars are the last teeth to erupt (between the ages of 17 and 25 years) and are located at the back of the mouth. They are called wisdom teeth because they come through much later than the rest of our teeth, at a time when we are supposed to be an adult and therefore ‘wise’! It is usual to have four although some people can have less or occasionally more.

Many people are familiar with the idea of wisdom teeth being removed and indeed it was normal practice in certain countries around thirty years ago for wisdom teeth to be routinely removed. Best practice has moved on since then and now it is recommended that a wisdom tooth should only be removed if the patient is experiencing recurrent infections, several times a year for 2-3 years. If there is no clinical need to remove a wisdom tooth, it should not be removed.