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Show DAILY HEIALD Tuesday, September 7. 2004 BODY & Hi) HEALTH NEWS FOR YOUR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELL-BEIN- G Senior drivers Savvy Senior, husband just Dear Jim Miller last month 75 and his driving bothers me. He drives very jerky and doesn't pay much attention to what he's doing and I don't like being in the car with him. He says he drives as well as he always has, which by the way, has never been very good What can I do to help him see his driving skills have gotten worse and, is there anything we can both do to become safer drivers as we get older? Back-seDriver Senior Savvy . to grip the steering wheel, press the brake and accelerator and turn to look over the shoulders. Skill Assessment There are several ways to determine an older driver's ability to perform safe driving. Here are some questions to ask: Does the driver have difficulty working the pedals, merging on freeways, or turning onto busy streets? When merging or changing lanes, does the driver rely on mirrors, rather than turning fully to check blind spots over the shoulder? Does the driver have trouble seeing other vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians, especially at night, weave, straddle or drift into others lanes? In the past two years, has the driver had two or more near misses or collisions? at Dear Back-sea- t, There are lots of older drivers on the road like your husband that dont realize they've become bad drivers! But as we grow older, the loss of our vision, hearing, mobility and strength is so gradual that many people dont recognize it until they're faced with a quick driving decision that they cant react to any longer. Aging affects the three most important requirements for driving: sensory, decision making and acting. Let's take a look at these three factors. Driving Tips Here are some things older drivers can do to help correct The most important element their limitations: Get a complete medical necessary to driving is being able to see, which often begins exam and eye exam and learn if your medications can affect to diminish between the ages of 40 and 50. We lose some your driving. Choose a car with such feaability to read road signs in the distance or shift focus from tures as height adjustable seats the close-u- p instrument panel and safety belt anchors, good to traffic signals in the disvisibility, legible instruments, l l tance. Colors can also become iu - wnt urn i ui s ouu a iiu less bright and older drivers steering wheel Choose routes with good require more light while at the n same time struggle with glare. light, right-turinstead of intersections, clear signs Hearing loss can also contribute to driving problems. and signals, easy-ou- t lanes, easy-ipark- Decision Making ing, and fight traffic. Take a driver's refresher course to renew and test dri- Driving involves many judgment calls, which is good news inner clrillc for older drivers. Barring de-- . mentia or other serious illness, Sawy Resources judgment skills learned from AARP: Offers a driver imyears of driving usually dont diminish. Most older drivers provement course specially derecognize and avoid situations signed for senior drivers aee 50 and older. Call where their limitations put them at risk, like driving after or visit dark, during rush hour or in www.aarp.org55afive. d bad weather. However, some AAA: Many seolder drivers deny having any motor clubs offer one-daimpairment which can be very nior driving improvement programs. Your local AAA can be dangerous to themselves and found in the white pages of others; your phone book. AAA Foundation for Traffic Acting Safety: Offers several free seIt's one thing to make a denior driving publications. Visit cision and another to have the www.aaafoundation.org. ability to carry it out quickly in the car. Effects of arthritis, Send your senior questions weaker muscles, reduced flexi- to: Sawy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or bility and a limited range of motion can restrict the ability visit www.sawysenior.org. Sensory c-- left-tur- n well-mark- n, Anas tv brush with germs Michael Preckcr Chicken soup for the toothbrush THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS ' t hirks in your home's least sanitary room, a magnet and a breeding , ground for nasty germs. . Then its ends become jagged and sharp, turning a seemingly innocuous tool into an ideal delivery system for : bad, bad things. So should we throw that toothbrush away? Yes, says Dr. Tom Glass of Oklahoma State University, much more often than we do now. Get a new brush every two weeks, he says, and you'll probably be healthier. Other oral hygiene experts call Glass a pathology professor and a practicing dentist an alarmist who shouldn't be scaring people into neglecting their teeth. "I think we're overdoing this disinfecting thing in a lot of areas," says Dr. Charles Wakefield, a professor at the Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas. "Your mouth is really a dirty place, but we tolerate it. You have immunity to most of the ' The American Dental Association advocates changing toothbrushes every three or four months and does not believe that bacteria pose a health hazard in normal circumstances. But if you're the cautious type, here are some steps you can take. Like chicken soup, it may not help but it can't hurt.' AAA-affiliate- y Don't share toothbrushes, and keep your brush separate from others. Rinse it well and leave it in the open air to dry, possibly on a windowsill, where sunlight can help. Take an extra step. The Purebrush toothbrush purifier is sold for $79.95 at purebrush.com. A box of 36 Aquablast tablets sells for about $4. Buy brushes with soft bristles. Hard bristles can damage tooth enamel. Everybody agrees on this. "Prevention is a tough sell, and we're not making a lot of money. But I know I'm helping people. If you don't believe it don't bother washing your silverware." lions of people are using toothbrushes aU the time and they seem to be surviving." The reason to change toothbrushes, according to the ADA, is because they wear out and don't clean plaque off your James Murdock teeth as effectively as before. t maker of Purebrushes, which sterilizes toothbrushes Plaque, Whall says, poses a much greater threat to your health than anything on your toothbrush. maladies., says that 20 years of research have convinced him that we "People say, 'Oh, I cant af"Anything you can do to debugsonyou." should. Here's why: ford aU those toothbrushes,' but crease bacteria might be a good "He's sure wasting a lot of it's a false economy," he says. "Would you wash off your toothbrushes,'' says Dr. idea, but for your average dendental floss and use it again?" Mustafa a dentist on "For most people, one day misstal patients, we haven't seen the faculty of the University of he asks. "Of course not. It's a ing work costs a lot more". any evidence that this is a problTexas Southwestern Medical : Murdock shares the fears em," he says. hygienic issue. But people hang Murdock says disinfected Center at Dallas. "When it dries on to their toothbrushes forever that toothbrushes can be harmand ever." ful but has a different solution. toothbrushes are especially imup, the bacteria die." You might think that a toothMoreover, we generally park Doubting that people would toss portant for people who have them in what may be the most their brushes out so often, he in- weakened immune systems . brush company would encourvented the Purebrush in 1990 to caused by HIV, chemotherapy unsanitary room in the house. age people to buy its product No need to get too graphic here, decontaminate them. or other illnesses. In that inmore often, but Oral-- dis"The best analogy I can give but not all the molecules being stance,' Dr. says, he agrees. is: Would you eat your breakflushed go down Some go up, "I think it's irresponsible for may have a point. and they can find refuge in that fast with the same fork every "People with immune probanybody to make those claims," lems need to be very cautious," moist toothbrush standing in morning and throw it back in says Michele Szynal, communithe drawer with everybody he says. "But for the general the cup on your sink. cations director for the toothelse's?" he says. "But people brush company owned by public, you've got plenty of bac"Many of the organisms that brush their teeth and do exactly teria in your mouth and your Gillette. Of Glass, she says, we're seeing are disease prothat." "He's not going to scare me." ducers, and antibiotic-resistantbody. They five there and that's normal" he says. "If I put a thou-san- d Murdock says that his comBut in a world where cartoon commerTV on brush has Rinse out your toothbrush, some of Glass' a funded that infect pany organisms many germs is a research but that the dentist has cials, where says, make sure it iiight.you'fl have a million the no financial interest in the comnext day." dries out r and dont use anypopular and profitable buzzone else's brush that may have The problems really start, pany. With a limited advertisword, oral hygiene is not imGlass says, when the nylon bris- ing and marketing budget, mune. germs you're not immune to. And when should you change tles start to degrade. He says Purebrush sells between 10,000 The company that makes and 20,000 units each quarter. it? that can make them more Aquafresh toothpaste recently and hospitable to "Prevention is a tough seD, , , "Every three months," says introduced Aqua Blast, a tablet porous and we're not making a lot of . Szynal of Oral-and make the ends that makes a fizzy disinfectant germs "I couldnt tell you how often that promises to kffl 99 percent ; sharp. Those sharp ends, he money " Murdock says. "But I warns, can puncture your gums know; I'm helping people. If you I change my toothbrush," says of the bacteria on yoiT toothWakefield. "If I see It's getting and deliver germs into the donl believe it, don't bother brush. A California company worn down or bent over, FA bloodstream. sells a storage unit called Pure-bruwashing your silverware." None of this has persuaded He figures those bristles can throw it in the trash." that uses ultraviolet fight g ' Glass who sends his pato dry and sanitize toothbrushes. become untrustworthy after as the American Dental Associa- -' tion to alter its longtime recomlittle as two weeks, which is tients out the door with enough "In 10 years everybody will mendation: Get a new tooth- freebies to change every two have a toothbrush sterilizer, why he recommends a new brush every three or four brush on the 1st and 15th of weeks like everybody has a dishwashhopes that main-streax ' months. win each month. ,4' v V . er now," says James Murdock, dentistry eventually , ' Glass "We cant say that Glass is ; who's not in the See things his way. whose Burlingame, Calif., com' toothbrush business is conm the meantime, he has one wrong," says Dr. Clifford pany sells Purebrushes through vinced that using brushes for ; Whall, director of product ac- - r" final argument: "Suppose I'm , dental offices and catalogs. completely wrong," he says. long can increase the risk of ceptance for the ADA'S Council Maybe so, but in the mean-- , on Scientific Affairs. "But mil- -' "What does it hurt?" time, should we worry? Glass ; v colds, mouth sores and other see your doctor first Richard Harkness KNIGHT B Al-Ar- Aleve (naproxen) and are OTer4he-counte- blood-thinnin- low-dos- as-pir-in drug-relate- low-dos- tion. B. ; '."" , ; m , ? i g heart-protectiv- r What caught my attention is that you said you're taking as- pirin and another NSAID with' out the oversight of your doc-- . tor. Consumer polls indicate tfiat a significant number of people, like you, combine aspirin and other NSAIDs without realiz-' ing the risks, or decide to take daily aspirin therapy without first talking with their doctors. OTC NSAIDs such as naproxen (Aleve) and ibupro-fe-n (Advil) are generally safe when taken in. recommended-- ' doses as directed. r But people needto know that dairy, prolonged use of an NSAID or aspirin can potentially lead to serious gastrointestinal side effects. Taking the two in combination this way ratchets up your risk. Another issue that has come to light is that regular use of ibuprof en and perhaps some other traditional NSAIDs might blunt the e effect of aspirin and e thus waste its benefit. e Before prescribing aspirin or an NSAID, your doctor would evaluate your risk G3 for developing complications. One risk factor is your age, and there are a number of others. Regular monitoring is also important. In most cases, NSAID-in-duced GI side effects do not lead to complications. However, major bleeding and perforated ulcers, sometimes without warn-m-g symptoms, occur in a sman percentage but significant number of NSAID users. ' For this reason, it's vitally important to maximize safety when NSAIDs are taken. One safety measure is to use the lowest dose of an NSAID that relieves symptoms and to take it for the shortest possible time. An option is to use (e.g., Tylenol) of an NSAID. In your particular case, you might not need the NSAID at al Glucosamine alone might work wen enough for your os--: teoarthritis. I urge you to talk to your physician as soon as low-dos- drugs in the NSAID family. e Your dairy use of aspirin suggests you're taking aspirin to help prevent a heart attack or ischemic stroke. Glucosamine is a dietary supplement used to relieve the of osteoarthritis. It rptoms joint degenera- Al-Ar- . NEWSPAPERS tis. ," sh RIDDER woman Q: I'm a with no health problems except arthritis in my hands. Each day for my hand I take two Aleve tablets and 1,500 mg of glucosamine. I also take a daily 81 mg aspirin tablet. I have not been told by a doctor to take any of this. Am I overdoing it? A: You didn't specify, but you probably have osteoarthri- b, . Better Self-prescribi- ng . "anti-bacteria- . d aceta-minoph- en ' ad , possible. , |