Is Mouth Breathing Harming Your Health?
4 Ways To Ensure Your Lips Are Sealed
Even a small child knows that people breathe through their noses.
Except, of course, that little fact of anatomy isn’t always true. Often, people breathe through their mouths, unaware that this habit could be a sign of potential problems brewing.
“In many cases, people breathe through their mouths because the airways through their noses are blocked,” says Dr. R. Craig Miller (www.themillercenter.com), a dentist and author of Get Back Your Smile, Take Back Your Life.
“If the situation isn’t addressed, the airway issues can just get worse.”
Among the problems caused by or connected to blocked airways and mouth breathing are misaligned teeth, inflammation of the tonsils and adenoids, an enlarged uvula, obstructive sleep apnea and TMD, a disorder of the jaw muscles or joints.
A variety of treatment options can help alleviate some of these problems, Miller says. Just a few of those treatments are:
Laser light therapy. This therapy can provide immediate relief for TMD, although its effects are temporary. “In spite of its name, there is no heat or burning sensation as you might think, which is why we refer to it in my practice as cold laser,” Miller says. This therapy has been shown to increase circulation by stimulating the formation of additional blood vessels to replace damaged ones. The therapy also stimulates the production of collagen, the essential protein used to repair and replace damaged tissue.
CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). With a CPAP machine, patients wear a mask during sleep that seals over their nose and mouth, or over their nose only. The CPAP opens up the airway, Miller says, by feeding positive air pressure though the mask via a hose connected to the CPAP machine. CPAPs have their problems, though, he says. They can cause laceration of the bridge of the nose, rawness in the throat, bloating in the stomach, nasal congestion and sleep deprivation. People also aren’t always good about using them.
Oral appliance therapy for OSA. An oral appliance that is custom-designed and fabricated for the individual patient can provide relief for sleep apnea, Miller says. Known as mandibular-repositioning appliances, they are worn during sleep and reposition the lower jaw, advancing it forward to change the shape of the airway and open it up to make breathing easier.
Surgery. Surgery can be helpful where there is an anatomical obstruction, such as large tonsils or adenoids, or an enlarged uvula, Miller says.
“It’s better for your health to take care of your mouth-breathing problem, perhaps in more ways than people realize,” Miller says. “Nose breathing is proper breathing. It allows you to smell some of life’s beautiful scents, but also acts as a detector when air is unhealthy.
“Breathing through the nose also promotes a more meditative state, helping you stay calmer by reducing anxiety while improving your ability to think clearly. All in all, it’s important to remember that noses are for breathing, mouths are for eating.”
About Dr. R. Craig Miller
Dr. R. Craig Miller (www.themillercenter.com), author of Get Back Your Smile, Take Back Your Life, is a dentist who offers general, cosmetic, restorative, and surgical services. He is on staff at Saint Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, NJ, and at Newark Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, NJ, where he teaches dental residents restorative, implant, and advanced cosmetic dentistry, along with dental sleep medicine. He earned his doctor of dental medicine degree (DMD) from The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, now known as the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine.
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Abortion, Marijuana, and Slavery
One of the topics I try to avoid in class is abortion. There is a good reason for this avoidance; it is one of the subjects that inspires such passion that it is nearly impossible for any real civil discourse. Historically, abortion has been a key issue of every election since Roe V. Wade. However, it seems, at least to me, in the last couple elections, the abortion question has lost some significance. But, as we move closer to the 2020 election, it is looking as if the abortion issue may once again become a heavyweight question. I am not going to weigh in on the rights and wrongs of the issue, but I think it is worth giving some historical significance.
My first historical observance with abortion is the political shift that occurs. One of the areas we can generalize about regarding the differences between Republicans and Democrats is the role of government. Today, Republicans tend to believe in smaller government, while Democrats believe in larger. This was not always the case, but that is a story for a different time. Yet, when it comes to abortion, the two parties switch positions. Democrats tend to want more regulation, more involvement in people’s lives. But when it comes to abortion, they suddenly back off and say it is completely up to the individual. Democrats tend to try to protect those who need the most help, but then change on this one issue. Republicans follow suit. They tend to push for more personal liberties, a more hands-off approach, yet push for more government regulation with abortion. Where Republicans are portrayed as the more uncaring party when it comes to issues such as separation of children at the border, they take a stronger stance on protecting the unborn. When it comes to debating abortion, they both attack each other on their inconsistencies.
A similar circumstance happens when it comes to legalizing marijuana. Democrats argue it’s a state rights’ issue, while Republicans counter that it is a federal law. And while speaking of marijuana, it seems to me as if these two issues are connected. Marijuana is still against federal law, yet state after state have passed laws allowing for its use. Similarly, abortion is legal in the U.S. according to federal law, but after the marijuana laws began to pass with no reprisal from the federal government, states started to follow suit with abortion laws. Today several states have passed laws limiting the right to abort.
The reason for the switch in position is because morality is involved. In my classes there are two times I discuss abortion. The first is when we discuss Roe v. Wade. The other is when we discuss compromises over slavery. I understand how odd that sounds. There is little the two have in common, yet when it comes to debating slavery and abortion, they are quite similar.
For the first century of American history, our leaders were able to compromise on slavery. When I say compromise, I really mean agree to avoid discussing it. Slavery was always a difficult question, so they agreed to find ways to punt the problems to the next generation. The big compromises such as the 1820 Missouri Compromise, the 1850 Compromise, and the 1854 Kansas Nebraska Compromise were all attempts to remove slavery from the national discussion. All three of these compromises were efforts to answer, once and for all, which states or territories would be slave and which free. Our political leaders understood that slavery was too difficult a conversation for Congress. The closer we got to the Civil War, the more difficult the conversations became.
As the anti-slavery movement grew into the abolitionist cause, more Americans began to see slavery as a moral argument. Once slavery was seen as a sin and slave-holders as sinners, it became impossible to have civil discourse. This is when I bring in abortion as an object lesson. I tell my students it’s like today’s abortion debate. If you are morally against abortion, there is no compromise. There can’t be. If you are pro-choice and see abortion as a fundamental right for women, you too cannot compromise. It’s not like tariffs. Most of us can give a little here or there with tariffs, infrastructure laws, or foreign policy, but once something is seen as a moral argument, compromise is over.
I am not the first to see this connection. In fact, modern pro-life advocates have taken up the word abolitionist to explain their cause. They have borrowed many words, slogans, and images from the 19th century abolition movement to explain and promote their agenda.
I am not sure what this comparison means for modern Americans. Nineteenth-century Americans never figured it out. They were never able to find the magic solution and come to an agreement. It took a war and 700,000 lives to find the answer to slavery. I do not think abortion will lead to war, but history has shown that we may never find common ground to the abortion question. Pro-choice and pro-life will never find a compromise and, like the abolitionists and slaver holders, will continue to see themselves as holding the moral high ground even if the courts side against them.
Dr. James Finck is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and Chair of the Oklahoma Civil War Symposium. Follow Historically Speaking at www.Historicallyspeaking.blog or Facebook at @jamesWfinck.
Dr. James W. Finck
Associate Professor of History
Davis Hall, room 219-B
University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
1727 West Alabama
Chickasha, OK 73018
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USDA Announces Investments in Community Facilities that will Benefit 631,000 Rural Americans
USDA Has More Than $2 Billion Still Available for Rural Communities to Build or Modernize Education, Health Care, Municipal and Public Safety Facilities
Contact:
Weldon Freeman (202) 690-1384
Jay Fletcher (202) 690-0498
WASHINGTON, June 24, 2019 – Acting Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Joel Baxley today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has more than $2 billion still available this year to invest in community facilities and infrastructure projects in rural areas. Baxley also released the names of 40 rural communities that are receiving a total of $50 million for projects that will benefit 631,000 rural residents (PDF, 140 KB) in 17 states.
“Modern and accessible education, health care, public safety and municipal services are foundational to quality of life in any community,” Baxley said. “Under the leadership of President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, USDA is committed to being a strong partner to rural communities to build the facilities in which these essential services are located, and to improve the infrastructure these services rely on to operate in rural America.”
USDA is making the investments and has additional funding available through the Community Facilities Direct Loan Program. Interested applicants should contact their USDA Rural Development state office.
The 40 projects Baxley announced today are in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia. For example:
More than 100 types of projects are eligible for funding under USDA’s Community Facilities program. Eligible applicants include municipalities, public bodies, nonprofit organizations and federally recognized Native American tribes. Projects must be in rural areas with a population of 20,000 or less.
USDA will make additional funding announcements in coming weeks. Congress appropriated $2.8 billion for Community Facilities direct loans and grants in fiscal year 2019.
In April 2017, President Donald J. Trump established the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes that could promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January 2018, Secretary Perdue presented the Task Force’s findings to President Trump. These findings included 31 recommendations to align the federal government with state, local and tribal governments to take advantage of opportunities that exist in rural America. Increasing investments in rural infrastructure is a cornerstone recommendation of the task force.
To view the report in its entirety, please view the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity (PDF, 5.4 MB). In addition, to view the categories of the recommendations, please view the Rural Prosperity infographic (PDF, 190 KB).
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
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