chatwithketch

Recent research has shown that encouraging the growth of good bacteria on the skin may be beneficial. Is this right for you? Read!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/how-clean-should-your-skin-be

The gluten-free diet has been touted as key in several quarters. The article below gives an alternative view.

Read!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/nutrition/think-twice-before-going-gluten-free

Q: Good morning Dr It’s an issue that have been given me sleepless night. Bad breath or mouth odor has been dealing with me for several years now, I have been to the dentist but no good response, I have used every thing possible but to no avail. I do change toothbrush every 3 months, using xxxx toothpaste immediately after brushing the odors will come up again. Please ma’am help me.

A: Thanks for writing in. I repeat below a post I had made earlier on bad breath in children and adults.

Bad breath at any age is traumatic but in a young child, it often leaves the parents wondering what they are doing wrong

Improper brushing of teeth is always an issue. People argue that they brush their teeth and their children’s teeth properly, but this may not be completely true. Do you brush your teeth for at least 2 minutes, paying attention to every section? Do you brush your tongue? Do you floss? Remember that food particles between teeth can interact with bacteria that live normally in the mouth and lead to stinking mouths…same for food debris at the gum line and tonsils. And then, when a baby has a congested nose and breaths with his/her mouth, the dry conditions enable the bacteria to thrive.

Tonsilitis, finger sucking by babies, tooth cavities and buildup of tartar on teeth can all cause bad breath.

What can you do as a parent? Get involved. Help your baby with brushing the teeth to teach him the right technique. (When you say, he brushes twice a day, I hope this doesn’t mean he’s doing it without supervision?) Brushing times can become fun bonding times for mummy and her son or for daddy and son. Sing nice fun songs and brush your own teeth at the same time too

Remember that oral care (care of the mouth) should start even before the first tooth erupts. Regularly wipe your baby’s mouth and gum with a wet flannel and as soon as the first tooth/teeth erupt, start brushing. Use tooth paste that does not contain fluoride until your baby can spit. What tooth paste does not contain fluoride? Ask at your regular supermarket or simply pick up the packs of the different tooth pastes and look for one that does not contain fluoride

J Use a tiny amount of paste at this initial time (about the size of a grain of rice), then graduate to a pea sized amount and tooth paste that contains fluoride, when the child can spit out.

Remember the rule of twos: Take your baby to see the dentist twice a year, help him and teach him to brush his teeth at least twice a day (three if you can manage it, after every meal) and be sure to ensure that he spends at least 2 minutes brushing his teeth. A simple way of doing this is mentally dividing the mouth/teeth into four quadrants/sections. Then spend at least 30 seconds on each side, making sure you brush every surface of the teeth.

Then be sure not to forget the tongue. Pay attention to every side and use a soft bristled brush to do a good job. There are tongue scrapers which can be purchased alone or tooth brushes which come with bristles at the back for brushing the tongue.

Stay off alcoholic mouth washes for your baby as the alcohol just worsens the dryness in the mouth, And remember that mouth washes are just temporary fixes. They only mask the bad breath and not treat it.

Encourage your baby to drink water regularly, especially if they have dry mouths and they’ve got to scrub their hands regularly too, if they suck their fingers/thumb.

These should be sufficient to stop the bad breath. If they don’t however, please see your doctor to rule out other causes of bad breath which cavities in the teeth etc

And for adults…..

Bad breath, also called halitosis, may be as a result of poor hygiene habits, eating strong smelling foods or could be a sign of other medical conditions.

If adequate dental hygiene is not maintained, food particles can remain in our mouths, encouraging bacterial growth bacteria in our mouths can break down food particles and raise a serious stink. Proper dental hygiene habits includes:

Brushing your teeth twice a day (this sounds like a ‘no-brainer’ but the right technique is important. Mentally divide your mouth into four quadrants and spend at least 30 seconds on each quadrant. This way, you spend a minimum of 2 minutes brushing)

Brushing your tongue (if you finish brushing and you can still see all that whitish residue on your tongue, you haven’t done a good job. Some of the smell comes from there. Some tooth brushes come with a tongue scraper at the back of the brush…use that. If not, buy one or just use your brush)

Flossing your teeth everyday. Ask for this in your local super markets. This gets rid of the food particles between your teeth where your tooth brush can’t reach.

Using a mouthwash can also help the prevention of mouth odour.

Eating strong smelling foods like onions and garlic could also cause mouth odour, which may not be taken care of by brushing. This is because these ‘foods’ are absorbed into the blood stream and excreted through the lungs. So, the smell will persist until excretion is complete. The small can be masked with mouthwash etc

Disease conditions that can lead to bad breath include mouth infections, Diabetes Mellitus, sinus infection etc.

Other conditions like use of tobacco (chewing or smoking), some drugs and dry mouth (which is the reason for morning breath :D) are also culprits.

Prevention is focused on the tips given above and ensuring that you visit your dentist at least twice a year, brushing at least twice a day (if not after every meal) with a fluoride tooth paste (remember that fluoride is not recommended for children less than 2-3 years and even then, only a pea size is recommended), change your tooth brush once every three months and drink lots of water.

Let’s keep the pearls shining and the breath smelling really fresh.

By the way, would you tell a friend, if he/she had bad breath?

I asked that question during one of my shows and most people didn’t want to be the one that causes offence by telling someone that they have bad breath. However, most people also wanted to be told if they had bad breath. So, who will bell the cat? 😀

Did you miss the show? Catch it here and watch me have fun putting OC Ukeje on the hot spot. https://chatwithdrketch.com/2015/05/03/watch-the-dr-ketch-show-episode-on-bad-breath-here/

Have a good evening, y’all 😀

Q: Hello Dr Ketch, please help me on what to do. I am trying for pregnancy and I want a baby boy I have a baby girl already. How do I calculate when to and when not during ovulation? Thank you

A: Interesting questions! Can you get a male child medically? Honestly, when it comes to matters of whether you have a male or female, it’s all up to God Medically, it is believed in some quarters that the male sperm swim faster and so having sexual intercourse on the day of ovulation guarantees having a baby…but trust me! The world is littered with women who tried this and it didn’t work! For more on the calculation of ovulation day, please click on https://chatwithdrketch.com/…/daily-health-tips-when-do-i-…/
People who go for In Vitro Fertilization may have the option of selecting their baby’s sex, but even this is not offered indiscriminately.
Spacing your children allows your wife to rest in between pregnancies and recover her strength. It does not increase your chances of having any particular sex, neither does having them in rapid succession. It’s just not up to you! That’s just the point 😀
I know that traditionally, we like to think that our family lines can only be propagated through the male species, but remember Obama and Clinton, two great men who have only girls as children. I don’t think the world will forget them in a hurry! Your daughters will bring you absolute joy and happiness and perhaps cater for you in ways that you would not have even expected. Both genders are important and we need to accept both as gifts from God.

Q: Good afternoon doctor. Please as a working mother how do I store breast milk for my baby because I want to do exclusive and is there side effect for breast pump? Thank you

A: Expressed breast milk has to be handled in a very hygienic way. It is important that it does not form the means by which germs find their way into your baby’s body so utmost care must be taken. What should you do? I reproduce a post I had made on this a while back; To express milk for your baby, first, you have to be committed to be hygienic because you don’t want to introduce germs into your baby, do you? Always scrub your hands with soap and water whether you are using the breast pump or your hands.

Having expressed the milk, when stored at room temperature, be sure to use up the milk within 6 hours. When stored in the fridge,

• Ensure that the temperature in the refrigerator is below 5 degrees centigrade.

• Do not store on the door of the fridge. Please store on the shelf towards the back of the refrigerator where it’s cooler

• At this temperature, you can store milk for up to 5 days.

When stored in the ice compartment of the refrigerator, you can store milk up to 2 weeks

When stored in the deep freezer, you can store milk up to 6 months. To thaw frozen milk, please put it in the fridge.

When it’s thawed, you may feed your baby with it but if your baby prefers it warm, you can run some warm water over the bottle until it’s just right. Do not microwave it as this may create some hot spots in the bottle which may cause scalding of your baby. Once thawed, please don’t re-freeze the milk as this might encourage the growth of micro-organisms.

Make sure that the container used for storing milk is sterilized to prevent any potential introduction of germs into the milk. Use small containers that hold just about the amount that your baby finishes per feed. If you express a lot of milk, be sure to label the different containers and use the oldest pack first. Please stick with the duration of storage guideline we’ve given.

Now, it goes without saying that you should not store milk close to contaminants like meat, fish or even strong smelling foods like onions 😀

There are no side effects of breast pump, provided you are using it properly. Personally, I found that using my hands to ‘milk’ my breasts produced sufficient amounts of breast milk for my always-hungry-can’t-seem-to-get-enough-food-baby. You may want to try that.

Have a good night, y’all 😀

Ever heard of the baby bottle tooth decay?

The baby bottle tooth decay is a condition that occurs when babies’ teeth are exposed to prolonged contact with sugary liquids or substances. In children, this would occur by allowing children to go to sleep while feeding at the breast on a bottle or giving them pacifiers that have been coated with honey or other sugary substances. During sleep, saliva production reduces; thus these sugary substances which lead to the production of acids stay on the teeth for prolonged periods leading to erosion of the enamel and subsequent tooth decay.

How can you prevent this?

• Mothers are advised to practice exclusive breastfeeding but if for any reason bottles have to be used for any period, this should be carefully monitored. Ensure that baby never falls asleep with a bottle containing milk (be it expressed breast milk or formula), fruit juice (fresh or packaged) or any other sweetened fluids. This also goes for children who are breast fed. Please don’t let them fall asleep on the breast. This ensures that the baby’s teeth is not in contact with sugary fluids for prolonged periods of time. This prevents tooth decay.

• Clean baby’s mouth and gums at least once a day, gently massaging the gingivial tissues and gum. This can be done using a piece of moistened cotton gauze wrapped around a finger. This helps to clean baby’s mouth, establish the development of healthy teeth and also aid teething.

• As soon as the first tooth erupts, plaque removal should commence. Ensure that babies’ teeth are brushed at least twice a day. Before the child can spit out, please use a non-fluoride containing tooth paste. We don’t want the child swallowing fluoride and coming down with some ailments. However, as soon as the child can spit, please introduce fluorinated toothpaste.

• Wean the baby from the bottle as soon as possible and use a cup for liquids. During the weaning period, dilute the bottle feeds as much as possible to the point where only water is taken with the bottle.

• If your baby uses a pacifier, please use for only short periods of time and be sure not to coat with honey or any other sugary substance to ensure that his teeth is not in prolonged contact with substances that will lead to tooth decay.

I trust y’all are having a great weekend!

Q: How can I get rid of stretch marks?

A: Stretch marks occur when the skin is over-stretched like during pregnancy, during the growth spurt of the teenage years and during rapid weight gain or loss. So the skin, sort of, loses its elasticity, over stretches, leading to the breaking the of interconnected fibres of the middle layer of skin, dermis. When this happens, the blood vessels show through, with the characteristic red or purple colour stretch marks have initially. As the blood vessels contract, the pale fat underneath the skin shows through causing the stretch marks to assume their usual pale colour.

Stretch marks can also occur in people who have a family history, people with underlying health conditions like Cushing’s syndrome ~(where the body produces too much of the hormone, Cortisol) and sometimes after prolonged use/abuse of steroid creams (some of these are used to treat eczema).

Common areas for stretch marks to occur are the breasts, tummy, buttocks, upper arms, shoulders and thighs.

Before the appearance of stretch marks, the affected area becomes thin and you may develop an itch there. The stretch marks when they first appear are slightly raised but eventually, flatten out. As they flatten, the colour becomes less pronounced until they leave pale silvery or whitish streaks, depending on skin colour.

As described above, the ‘damage’ to the skin is done from the inside and not the outside. This makes it difficult to really take care of it from the outside. Having said that, creams that contain shea butter, cocoa butter and Vitamin E are thought to be useful in causing the marks to fade.

Other creams that contain olive oil, castor oil and fruit acids may also be helpful. There are some other advanced treatments like glycolic acid peels, laser therapy etc, (that you must NOT attempt on your own) that are helpful with old and new marks. Discuss these options with your dermatologist.

I hope that this helps.

Have a great day 😀

Q: Hello, Dr. Ketch Please help me prescribe what I can do or take to tackle erectile dysfunction. Sometimes, I don’t want to feel that I have it because I don’t have the urge for sex. Please help me. Thank you

A: Erectile dysfunction (ED) occurs when a man is no longer able to get or maintain an erection sufficiently enough to have sexual intercourse. It may be really dramatic in some men, such that where they used to want intercourse very frequently; they find that there is reduced sexual desire.

Oftentimes, this may be due to just stress and better stress coping mechanisms help. However, because this is a sensitive topic, many men do not seek medical help such that this causes significant strain in their relationships. Other causes include depressions, relationship challenges, high blood pressure, high cholesterol level, high blood sugar, obesity, some medications, tobacco use, substance abuse, alcoholism etc

Your doctor will probably order some tests to confirm possible cause(s) and then decide on a course of action. Now I know that quite a number of men are quick to go and buy Viagra and some even overdose on it thinking the more they take the better the performance 😀 Please don’t do that! More seriously, these drugs are not for everyone and so if you have Diabetes Mellitus, heart disease, if you have had a stroke etc, please be sure to mention these to your doctor…and indeed you should not self-prescribe any of these (or indeed any other) drugs for yourself.

Treatment depends on cause. If this is emotional, psychological or due to stress etc, some degree of counselling may help. Other treatment options include oral medications like Sildenafil (Viagra), penis pumps, implants, injections etc. Please speak with your doctor to find out what options are available to you.

Remember that your partner may not understand what you’re going through and probably think that you no longer desire her. Be sure to re-assure her and let her be a part of your therapy. More importantly, try to be open about what is going on to your doctor so he can work with you to find the ideal solution.

Good night people 😀

Everyone wants to know how to have the perfect, glowing and shining skin. How do you get this? By washing your face? By using egg wash on your face?

Well, the first thing to do is eat right. Want more tips? Please click on the link below: https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/daily-skin-care-in-3-simple-steps

Have a good evening y’all 😀