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Q&A on the most lethal form of dementia

Dr. Gordon J. Rafool shares the symptoms and treatment options of Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in America. In Polk, 11.8 percent of Medicare beneficiaries were treated for Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia in 2013, according to Healthy Tampa Bay. We interviewed Dr. Gordon J. Rafool, a geriatrician…
Pop Quiz: Establishing a solid oral care foundation

Will your child have a future Filled with healthy smiles? Teeth add to your smile, allow you to enjoy delicious foods, and rip apart that plastic wrap off your new DVD. However, as a parent, you might be wondering whether you’re setting up proper oral hygiene habits for your child, or if the little tike…
To smile or not to smile

Dr. Karen Teston and other local experts on oral hygiene and your overall health Some folks are afraid of pain. Some know they haven’t done a good job of taking care of their teeth, and don’t want to be lectured. Still others lack cash. Whatever the reason, many avoid the dentist until an emergency arises.…

Healthy Cook: When stress is holding your eating habits hostage

Eating is soothing. It satisfies a primal urge. When life is getting to be too much and stress sets in, food can be your friend. The more stress, the more you eat, at least some people do. Others don’t eat when they’re stressed. They are the lucky ones.
Ask a Nurse: The evolution of modern medicine

Did you know that an anesthesiologist (the doctor that puts you to sleep and keeps you alive during surgery) wasn’t even considered a field or specialty in medicine until 1941!1 Could you imagine undergoing surgery without anesthesia? Barbaric! Thoracic surgery (chest surgery) wasn’t approved until 1970, and bariatric (obesity) medicine has yet to become an official…
Medical Advice: Avoiding mosquitoes and chikungunya virus

I was first introduced to a disease known as chikungunya during my medical training. Initially, I dismissed this foreign illness as something I would probably not see in my career. Chikungunya was originally found in Asia, Africa, and the islands of the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. This changed on December 2013, when there was…