We often times focus a lot on the techniques for brushing our teeth and teaching children to brush their teeth and we hardly pay attention to the equipment for brushing. We want to rectify this. Here are our top tips for brushing teeth right.
• Use the right tooth brush: Consider the size of your mouth or your children’s mouths when picking a toothbrush. You shouldn’t have to strain to accommodate the toothbrush in your mouth. The handle should also be very comfortable. Remember, the more comfortable the equipment is, the more likely your children are to use it frequently.
• Pick the right bristles: We’ve always thought that the harder the bristles are the better they get the job done…right? Wrong! The bristles should be firm enough to get the job done but not so hard as to damage or aggravate the gums.
• Duration and Frequency of brushing: Ideally brushing should be for about two minutes. To ensure that this is done, mentally divide your teeth into four quadrants/sections and try to spend at least 30 seconds on each quadrant. Frequency should be between two to three times per day. Remember that too much time between brushings allows plaque to build up, increasing the risk of gum inflammation and other problems.
• Finish up with a rinse Imagine the bacteria rendered homeless while brushing. Now imagine leaving them on that tooth brush ready to re-infect you while brushing the next time. Eew! I’m sure you don’t want that. Be sure to give the tooth brush a good rinse after use.
Finally, be sure that your toothbrush is not positioned too close to your Water Closet. Imagine all the germs being released into the air finding a ready home in your tooth brush close by, as the polluted water vapour settles after the toilet is flushed! :O Better still, flush with the toilet lid down.
Every time I get a new cleaner, I am almost fanatical in teaching them to clean the toilet by myself. You know why? It’s because I have observed that most times when people clean the toilets, they just move the germs from one corner of the toilet to another. So, this is really no work done.
I also observe families where one towel is used by everybody. I certainly believe in sharing and family unity, but some things were just not meant to share.
Here are our top tips for maintaining hygiene in the toilet/bathroom
• Toilets and bathrooms are used every day. There’s no reason why they can’t be cleaned every day or at least disinfected and bath wiped down. Remember that bacteria thrives in moist and damp places. • Ensure that you have some disinfecting fluid in the soapy water used for washing your toilet and bathroom. Even…
Q: Please Dr., what causes eye pain like feeling as if there is smoke?
A: Cloudy vision is a situation in which objects appear milky and ‘veiled’. It is oftentimes used interchangeably with blurry eyes. Blurry, cloudy or even double vision can be seen in disease conditions like:
• Cataract: This is a cloudy area on the lens and can lead to cloudy vision. If not taken care of, they can cause vision loss to the point of blindness. And yes, excessive exposure to sunlight increases your risk of having this condition.
• Near sightedness (myopia) can lead to blurry vision with associated headache and eye strain.
• Far sightedness (hyperopia) can also result in blurred vision when looking at close objects.
• Glaucoma, a condition in which there is increased pressure in the eye • Diabetes Mellitus in which there is damage to the retina (light sensitive layer) of…
Q: Good afternoon, Dr. Can you please, help me with my children’s daily time table for eating because my five years old boy is looking very smallish in stature and he hates eating fruits.
A: I’m sure this resonates with a lot of people! But guess what? Your son is not the boss. You are! And your job is to ensure that he eats nourishing foods as opposed to all the sweets that he would love to.
Try blending the fruits and feeding him. If you’ve got a smoothie maker, use that. It’s fruit juice…only this time without the refined sugars. That’s one way of encouraging him to take fruits. You can cut up or mash bananas and add to his cereal for breakfast and milk, of course. Focus on complex carbohydrates like Ofada/brown/local rice, sweet potatoes, oats, whole wheat meals, beans etc. Make your beans delicious and if you’re…
Q: Evening
Dr. Please kindly assist. I have a thing under my right armpit. I don’t know
whether it’s a folliculitis or a boil. It hurts and it’s affecting my arm.
Which home remedy should I use or must I go and see a doctor. Your help you’ll
be appreciated!
A: Well the first
thing to do is to figure out what this painful lump is.
The more common
causes/triggers of painful lumps in the armpits, include:
• Deodorants: These can cause skin irritation which can lead to boils. The
delicate and sensitive skin of the underarms and the sweat that can accumulate
there making it a rich culture medium for germs are factors that have been
implicated. Solution: You may have to try another one…find one without
fragrance or perhaps, formulated for sensitive skin. Reading the labels will
provide this information 😀
• Shaving: A lot of people can identify with this…bumps in the
underarm after shaving. This can happen if you do not shave properly. Shave
along the direction of growth of the hair. Try shaving after taking a bath when
the hair is moist and the skin hydrated. If this does not suffice, you may have
to find alternative means of removing underarm hair eg depilatory cream.
• Infection of the hair follicles from cuts or injuries to the underarm, or
from friction caused by wearing tight clothing. So, be careful while shaving
and try to wear clothes that are more loose fitting (especially under the arms)
and/or focus on fabrics that can ‘breathe’ like cotton
• Dirt or debris from excessive sweating can clog up hair follicles leading to
painful lumps. Personal hygiene is key. Don’t be miserly with bathing and be
sure to ‘take care’ of the underarms and other areas like the groin that tend
to accumulate sweat and raise a stink 😀
• Infections due to
viruses or bacteria.
• Cancer of the breast may also present like this.
I hope this helps. Keep checking your breasts and if you notice anything
suspicious, please see your doctor.
Q: Hello sir, have a sister who is 16 years that is bow-legged. Is there any drug she can take that doesn’t involves surgical attention that she can take?
A: Bow legs (genu varum) would usually occur in children when they are born becomes of the position they adopt in the uterus (physiological bowing). This, however, would usually resolve and disappear without any treatment by the time they are 3 years old. However, in very few instances they do not resolve. Two other conditions Blount’s disease and Rickets can lead to bow legs. In Blount’s disease, there is an abnormality in the upper part of the shin bone (tibia) and in Rickets, the body is unable to adequately absorb Vitamin D or there is a lack of Vitamin D, calcium and/or phosphorus in the food taken by the baby.
When people with bow legs stand with their feet together, their…
Q: Good evening ma’am. Please Doctor, can taking of COLD WATER prevent someone from conceiving? Thanks. God will continue to strengthen you in all your endeavors.
A: There are so many stories and taboos surrounding pregnancy that we need to address, really. Some pregnant women are practically banned from drinking cold water during pregnancy for this and other unclear reasons. There’s no medical basis for any of these stories. If you have a cold and you’re staying off cold water and filling up on warm fluids, I get it! However, if it’s for any of the ‘traditional reasons’ kindly ask for an explanation if you’re uncertain. Your doctor is always a great and useful resource.
So, in simple language, ‘no. drinking cold water cannot prevent conception.’ And it cannot cause a problem for your baby when you’re pregnant. Whenever I am pregnant, I not only drink cold water but actually take a lot of ice cubes because I can’t just seem to get cool enough! I’m constantly sweating and generally feeling hot! And I can tell you for a fact that none of my children were born asthmatic or with pneumonia! Having said that, as with everything else, moderation is key!
What you may notice though when you drink cold water is that baby moves around. This is, theoretically because the uterus/womb is close to the digestive tract such that the cold water in the digestive tract stimulates the baby to move. Women who feel concerned about their baby’s movements are sometimes asked to do this and check for baby’s movement.
Here are a couple of other pregnancy myths and our take on them:
Advice 1
You must always have a safety pin on your person; otherwise evil people may steal the baby from your tummy.
Verdict: Fiction
I’m not sure how else to qualify this, except by saying it is beyond weird!
Advice 2
Do not let people cross your leg when you’re sitting down. If they do, your baby will look like them.
Verdict: Fiction
Seriously guys! This has no basis in reality and even in mythology. If you don’t like people crossing over your legs, that’s fine…but don’t get it twisted. It has nothing to do with how the baby looks.
Advice 3
Do not spend too much time or shout at people you don’t like or your baby will look like them.
Verdict: Fiction
Anything that gets you to stop screaming is a great idea. But let’s do it for the right reasons. Your baby’s looks are determined by genes and not your likes or dislikes
Advice 4
If you scream during labour for your first child, you will scream throughout all your other labours.
Verdict: Fiction
Honestly, if you’d like to give your lungs a work-out during labour, be my guest. Go for it. I really don’t see any problem in it…certainly no documented medical one. In my case, to make up for the two times I tried to keep it all in, as I’d mentioned, I screamed the whole neighbourhood down when I was having my last baby!
But then again, you really don’t need to scream. You can put to bed in a center where you can receive epidural anaesthesia so that the whole process is easypeasy, lemon squeezy
In Africa, we like to think that if we don’t have our babies the long, painful way, it makes us less of women. But that is not true. The woman who had her baby with anaesthesia and the woman who didn’t both have babies to show for their efforts and I assure you that in both cases, the maternal instincts are not affected.
Advice 5
‘If the doctors tell you that the best option for you is having your baby through Caesarian section, reject it. All the women in our families have had their babies ‘normally’; you can’t be an exception to that rule.’
Verdict: Fiction
Every woman’s story is different and so is their medical history. The history of your mum is not necessarily yours and so, judging what will happen to you at labour and delivery but what happened to your family before you, may be putting you in danger. In some instances, there may not even be a problem with the woman’s ability to deliver the baby, but because the labour is prolonged with the baby in distress, the doctor takes a decision to section the lady. Going against this advice (which is an option open to the woman as the doctor will not force his medical opinions on her) may endanger both mother and baby. So, please be guided.
Advice 6
If you eat a lot of snails, your baby will spit a lot when born!
Verdict: Fiction
The fact that the snail is slimy has nothing to do with whether baby drools or not. Remember also that if your baby starts drooling when he’s teething, it has nothing to do the snails you ate when pregnant but everything to do with the process he’s going through…bringing forth teeth!
Advice 7
A breast feeding mother cannot get pregnant.
Verdict: Fiction
This actually used to be used as a birth control method called the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM), because the hormones involved in lactation provide some protection against pregnancy-related hormones. However, we have seen again and again, women get pregnant while breastfeeding to know that this is not a reliable method of birth control!
Advice 8
A pregnant mother must not breastfeed.
Verdict: Fiction
Much as it would have been a great idea to be completely done with one baby before starting on another one, the breastfeeding does not affect the baby in the womb. So, do not deprive your born baby of his/her 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding
Advice 9
Pregnant women should not sleep on their backs as this may damage your baby’s eyes
Verdict: Fact and fiction
In the first trimester, if you’re used to sleeping on your back, you can continue. However, as you get into your second trimester, it is fact that pregnant women should not sleep on their backs especially close to term. However, the reason is not because of damage to baby’s eyes. It’s because the woman may feel dizzy as the growing uterus puts pressure on the vein that returns blood from the body making the woman feel dizzy on getting up and the baby may also not get enough nutrients from the placenta in that position Advice 10
If a pregnant woman drinks cold water, her baby may get pneumonia
Verdict: Fiction
Seriously?! It’s fictional enough the fact that we think that in real life, cold water drinking exposes us to pneumonia; but an unborn child….seriously?! This is as fictional as it gets. No basis in truth.
It is Saturday and the world’s preferred day for laundry. Before you start on yours, perhaps you should take a look at this video to make sure you are doing it just right 😀
Q: Good
day Doc I would like to know. What is the cause of blood always reading
positive to pregnancy but urine doesn’t test positive? Looking forward to your
response.
A: When
pregnancy tests are done, they usually test for the presence of the hormone, Human
Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG). The presence of this hormone signifies pregnancy
and its absence denotes no pregnancy.
Blood
pregnancy tests are typically very accurate.
A
positive result on blood pregnancy test, as I already noted above, could mean
that you’re pregnant. If you’re not, then the false positive result could be
due to medications like fertility medicines or some meds used for the treatment
of seizures
It is also possible that one was
pregnant at the time of the previous blood pregnancy test and miscarried soon
after. This type of early pregnancy is referred to as a chemical
pregnancy
An ectopic pregnancy, a situation
in which a pregnancy implants outside of the womb (uterus), could also result in
high hCG levels. It is usually discovered in the first couple of weeks of
pregnancy (it would have been discovered by the 8th week of pregnancy). The
patient would usually come into hospital with complaints of light abdominal bleeding,
abdominal pain or cramps, extreme dizziness from the bleeding. If the tube
ruptures (bursts), patient could faint from profuse bleeding into the abdomen.
When a miscarriage
happens, the hCG in the body does not disappear overnight. It would usually
take about four to six weeks after miscarriage for the hCG levels to return to
normal. So, this could also be responsible for the positive pregnancy test you
had.
Rising hCG levels could also be due to two conditions known as
choriocarcinoma (in which a cancer forms in the ‘placenta’ tissues) or a molar
pregnancy (in which a fertilized egg turns into a mass of cysts instead of a
normal pregnancy).
So, your best option now is to see your doctor for a detailed
history, examination and investigation. S/he will advise on next steps.
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