Bright white teeth and fresh breath does not necessarily mean you have a healthy mouth! General health is directly related to gum health. Gum disease has been linked to several medical conditions such as stroke, diabetes, heart attack and worsening lung disease. Healthy gums can reduce a person’s biological age by up to 6.4 years. Why? Because studies show that the presence of periodontal diseases, most common in people with tooth loss, actually affects longevity. The best of these studies, done at Emory University in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control, indicates that people with gingivitis and periodontal disease have a mortality rate that is 23% to 46% higher than those who don’t. Keeping your gums clean and healthy may help reduce the risk of many illnesses, including heart disease.

Gum Disease

Gum disease or periodontal disease, a chronic inflammation and infection of the gums and surrounding tissue, is the major cause of about 70 percent of adult tooth loss, affecting three out of four persons at some point in their life. Red swollen and bleeding gums characterize gum disease in the initial stages and progresses to infections, chronic inflammation and bone loss in later stages. Eventually bacteria are allowed to flow freely through your gums and into your blood stream that activates and stresses the immune system.

Heart Attack

Research shows that people with gum disease are 25% more likely to have a heart attack. Bacteria originating from the gums to the veins and arteries cause plaque build up and arterial inflammation that can provoke jeopardous clotting. A 12-year study conducted by Harvard University researchers and 41,000 healthy men free of cardiovascular disease showed that those with periodontal disease had more clot related strokes.

Diabetes

Periodontal disease severely affects the control of blood sugars. The spread of bacteria through out the body through the blood stream stresses and confuses the body when trying to adjust sugars to the invasion. Antibiotic treatment has help diabetics control blood sugars while treating the infections caused by gum disease.

Lung Infections

Breathing in oral bacteria caused by gum disease can cause lung infections. Bacteria that grow in the oral cavities can be breathed into the lungs to cause respiratory disease such as pneumonia.

About the Author

Yvonne Takhtalian, C.N.H.P, H.I. spent the past 10 years developing and improving Vita-Myr Natural Products helping thousands like you heal gum disease and gingivitis. She just released a new line of 100% Natural Vita-Myr Soaps to compliment her Vita-Myr Mouthwash & Toothpaste. Find out more about effective natural relief of gum disease at http://www.vitamyr.com/ or email questions/comments to Yvonne at mailto:vitamyr@mindspring.com Copyright © 2004 Vita-Myr® International Inc All rights reserved. Natural Products For Healthy Living ®

With internet usage reaching almost every country, and economic class, and with its permeation throughout the western world, applications designed to harness its potential in ever more practical ways are constantly arising. One such application is Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP), which continues to challenge its own limitations. There are a few leading players who are jostling for supremacy, including Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, Skype, and Vonage.

Recently, there have been many converts to Skype, including this reviewer. There are several factors that have influenced my own personal move, but my primary motivations were innovation, quality, and marketability. VoIP has always been an application that is easily marketable, and Skype has added innovative features that are quality-rich:

• SkypeOut, where you can use your computer to call ordinary phone numbers all over the world. The global SkypeOut rate is currently 1.7 Euro Cent (about 2 US cents or 1.1 pence) per minute to more than 20 countries.

• SkypeIn, which is a virtual phone number your friends can call. This is in beta testing at the time of writing this review, but the 12-month subscription is available for 30 and 3 months for 10.

• Skype Voicemail, which lets you redirect calls to your voicemail, is available at 5 for 3 months or 15 for the year.

However, the most widespread application of Skype is PC-to-PC calls. Any user can make free calls over the Internet to anyone else who also has Skype. It is a simple wizard-based process to download and use the application, and works via your broadband connection with operating systems based on Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux, and Pocket PCs. All you need is a PC microphone and speakers or a basic USB headset, and what you get is a real-time, telephone-quality voice conversation with any PC end-user in the world. I found the downloading to be extremely simple and straightforward and imagine that anyone, no matter your computer fluency will find it easy as well.

In addition to its ease of setup, the features of Skype are really impressive. There is a facility to search the Skype database, so that you are able to build a list of contacts. We have used Skype for Windows 1.4 for a PC-to-PC conversation between Los Angeles and Mumbai (India), and there was no recorded break in the half-hour call. The clarity was definitely on par with a normal telephone, perhaps even better, with no noticeable time lag. On subsequent calls between these destinations and other US cities including Chicago, the quality continues to amaze us, and the fact that Skype works in most environments, irrespective of firewalls or NAT, widens its reach.

So, what’s the downside? A comparative analysis will help clarify the situation. For a start, Skype does not offer as many calling features as other service providers like Vonage. Then, there have been question marks about the technical/customer support offered by Skype. Another point where Skype loses out is the quality of the SkypeOut package, where the calls made to landlines are of inconsistent quality. One hopes that Skype can add video chat to its repertoire in the near future, which will place Skype on an equal standing with other free VoIP providers like Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger, which already have video capabilities. Skype is undoubtedly ahead of both MSN and Yahoo in terms of voice quality and the real-time conversation experience. On the other side of the spectrum, Vonage offers feature-rich services and better customer service, although all this comes at a price.

My Overall Assessment: Vonage is a better option than Skype for traditional telephone users because Skype is totally computer-dependent and caters to consumers who are “living out of their computers.”

The future has a lot to offer, and undoubtedly Skype will move forward in its evolutionary process, and hopefully improve SkypeOut and emerge successfully out of beta testing for SkypeIn. However, for the moment, Skype is arguably the best option for free PC-to-PC calls. Skype says that the “current focus is to make the best voice-application on the planet”judging from user feedback around the world, Skype has already gone a long distance towards that objective.

Hamesh Brown enjoys writing about VoIP. See http://www.voipreviewsonline.com/2005/10/skype_review_1.html for another Skype review.