Health

Report: African-Americans need better tooth care

WASHINGTON - More than half of African-American men have untreated dental problems, putting them at greater risk than all other Americans of contracting maladies that lead to tooth decay, gum disease and oral cancer, according to a report released Thursday by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute.

"African-American men . . . have the lowest survival rate of any group" once cancerous lesions are detected, the report said. The report also underscored the social consequences of having bad teeth.

"In this society, your appearance and ability to communicate matter greatly in getting and keeping a job," said Eddie Williams, the Joint Center's president. "Oral disease and untreated dental problems rob you of both."

The Joint Center report, which drew on a range of statistics from the federal government and other sources, said 51 percent of African-American men have untreated dental problems, compared with 28 percent of white men.

"The Joint Center notes that African American males are a particularly neglected group, particularly those living on low incomes," Surgeon General Richard Carmona said. "We know that men generally . . . seek fewer health services than do females and that African American males face substantial challenges accessing health care."

The report recommended several remedies, including the development of federal, state and local standards for accessing dental care for at-risk populations, loan repayment options for dentists in nonwhite communities and a requirement by commercial insurers and Medicaid to include an annual visit to the dentist as part of their health plans.

NEW ORLEANS - The first head-to-head comparison of common treatments for preventing nausea and vomiting after surgery found that drugs costing a dollar or two work just as well as a more expensive medicine.

Also, a combination of two or three drugs was found to be more effective than just one at preventing people from throwing up after an operation. Some people, though, get sick to their stomach no matter what.

The study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, clarifies a dismally murky area.

Nausea and vomiting after surgery are common side effects of gas anesthesia and opium-related painkillers. Postoperative nausea affects one out of three surgery patients - about 25-million a year in the United States.

The study was led by Dr. Christian Apfel, who began the research at the University of Wurzburg in Germany and now also works at the University of Louisville. He looked at all 64 possible combinations of six nausea treatments.

Three of the treatments are drugs - the steroid dexamethasone; ondansetron, developed to avert vomiting after chemotherapy; and the tranquilizer droperidol. Droperidol costs about $1, dexamethasone $2 or less, and ondansetron $15 or so.

The three drugs were found to be about equally effective.

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