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WEDNESDAY, Feb. 16, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Kids with heart conditions are more likely than their peers to have frequent cavities, toothaches or bleeding gums, a new U.S. government study finds.Researchers found that of U.S. children and teenagers with heart conditions, 10% had only "poor" to "fair" dental health, as rated by their parents. That was twice the figure of kids without heart problems.It's a concern in part, the researchers say, because if oral bacteria get into the bloodstream, some children with heart disease may be susceptible to infective endocarditis. The condition is rare, but it inflames the inner lining of the heart and can be life-threatening.The wider issue, though, is that good oral health, and sparing kids pain and dental procedures, is important, according to...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 16, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Misinformation about COVID-19 abounds, and cancer patients who are currently receiving treatment are more likely to believe COVID lies than cancer survivors who've completed treatment and people who've never had cancer, a new study says.The findings are from a survey of nearly 900 U.S. adults about evenly divided into the three groups."These findings help us better understand the threat of COVID-19 misinformation in an already vulnerable population," said study lead author Jeanine Guidry, an assistant professor in Virginia Commonwealth University's Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture."Understanding who is more likely to believe certain types of misinformation brings us closer to understanding why this is the case, which, in...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 16, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- In a sign that the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on routine health care, many of the nearly one-third of older Americans who had a medical procedure, primary care visit or dental appointment canceled or postponed due to COVID still haven't received that care, a new poll finds."Whether they chose to postpone or their provider did, these patients missed opportunities for preventive care and for early detection and effective management of chronic conditions, not to mention operations and procedures to address a pressing health need," said Dr. Jeffrey Kullgren, associate director of the National Poll on Healthy Aging and an associate professor of internal medicine at University of Michigan-Michigan Medicine."The fact that half or more...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 16, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Sesame isn't declared on more than half of food products that contain it, which could put some people at risk for an allergic reaction, researchers warn. A serious allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) can be deadly. By 2023, sesame will have to be listed on labels of food products sold in the United States, but the new study, published recently in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, found serious problems with labels on shelves today."Sesame is the ninth most common childhood food allergy in the U.S., yet many people don’t recognize it on food labels, or it's missing entirely," said senior study author Dr. Katie Kennedy, an allergist from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She and her colleagues analyzed 379 allergic...