时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2013年(六月)


英语课

 


Study: Bad Teeth, Gums Major Problems



A new report says nearly four-billion people – more than half the world’s population – have major tooth decay, or cavities. Health officials warn that poor oral health can lead to social and psychological problems.


Professor Wagner Marcenes led of team of researchers as part of the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study. It listed untreated tooth decay, or cavities, as the most common of all 291 major diseases and injuries.


“It was a massive effort. We had about 500 scientists work on it. And we reviewed all literature, all data on all disease and then came with estimations -- that was the report that has been recently published,” he said.


Marcenes is with the Institute of Dentistry at Queen Mary, University of London.


Tooth decay, or cavities in permanent teeth, is also known as carries.


“Carries is a chronic 1 disease that shares the same risk factors as cancer, cardiovascular disease. What we’re having now is an increase in disease from highly developed countries happening in sub-Saharan Africa and probably it will be in other areas of Africa, too,” he said.


In fact, the study says the “largest increases in the burden of oral conditions” were in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania. Marcenes was not surprised at the study’s results.


“It tends to get less attention than some other disease. For example, HIV obviously [is] a much more relevant issue for the health of the population,” he said.


He said that tooth decay is rising sharply in Africa because developing countries are becoming more like Western nations in some ways.


“It is likely to be related to a change in diet. Our industrialized diet leads to chronic disease, which includes carries. And that may be the main explanation.”


The diets of developed nations are rich in sugar, a leading culprit in oral health problems. Marcenes says prior to the 19th Century, people had few cavities because sugar was not readily available. It’s also a major contributor to obesity 2.


Developed nations dramatically reduced the incidence of tooth decay and cavities by adding fluoride to their drinking water.


He  said, “The fluoridation of the water is a highly important issue, and yes, it came from research in America. It has contributed enormously to that reduction in carries.”


But while the fluoride made teeth more resistant 3 to the bacteria that cause tooth decay, it also allowed people to eat more sweets.


Oral health problems, Marcenes said, have a major negative effect on a person’s quality of life. For one, they make eating difficult. Second, people may change what they eat and opt 4 for softer foods, such as those with more fat. However, the biggest issue, he found, is both social and psychological.


“We have very strong evidence in the literature that the mouth plays a big role on socialization. People feel embarrassed about having bad teeth. Then they tend to smile less. They tend to communicate less. And the familiar thing is to see someone laughing with their hand in front of the mouth because they don’t want people to see.”


Professor Marcenes said that adolescents with bad teeth can face long-term self-esteem issues.


He hopes African and Asian nations will see the health problems of the West and not follow their dietary example. He’s calling for an “urgent, organized, social response” to the widespread lack of oral health.


“We need a public health approach that deals with the causes of the disease, rather than deal with each disease independently because the most disabling disease share the same cause,” he said.


Marcenes is calling for a holistic 5 approach that includes a healthier diet and the development of new and cheaper dental materials and treatments.




1 chronic
adj.(疾病)长期未愈的,慢性的;极坏的
  • Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
  • Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。
2 obesity
n.肥胖,肥大
  • One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
  • Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。
3 resistant
adj.(to)抵抗的,有抵抗力的
  • Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
  • They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。
4 opt
vi.选择,决定做某事
  • They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
  • Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗?
5 holistic
adj.从整体着眼的,全面的
  • There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中,“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
  • In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论,它的方法不是渐进的,而是“整体主义的”。
学英语单词
acnodal cubic
acoustic instrument
Albert's staining
atomizing apparatus
automatic information retrieval system (airs)
back-bench
bar hopped
Billroth's suture
Bouclans
Bowman's membranes
braunsapis mixta
bridge arch
burst correction
chromatic transference scale
coinstituted
Corallinaceae
corance
core-halo galaxy
crural fossae
cutaneous amebiasis
cyanogenetic glycoside
cylinder plug gauge
default button
disc handwheel
dogfoods
ear hustlin'
Eppenrod
experimental diabetes
extentions
faced time
file reconstitution
finite life design
Flavoteben
for months
Fundamental forecasting
gear type locating ring
geast
glucosides
gross sum
harvest-times
heat service conveyor belt
heavy cargo ship
home-lovings
hygrometer calibration chamber
Hyoid-cartilage
hypercorticism
inaudibility
incretory glands
independent linking up gear
information and communications technology
infrared measurement
inter-utereral
investment in affiliates
journey at reduced fare
Kivertsi
kosraeans
lasianthus obliquinervis simizui
lateral lymph nodes
Lima Duarte
lintel(l)ed
m'raq
made the rounds
Medroeort
methanolates
monomachia
Morris County
myoplasty
navving
Niono
non-dispersive infrared
off air call setup
orizio
out-out business
outfittings
parafollicular cells
parameter group identifier
patient-monitoring
Paton.
phalacrotophora (plalacrotophora) flaviclava
Pindarist
podolampas palmipes
portal frame type platform
post-replication repair
potting machine
poured joint filler
pterospermum acerifoliums
pulse mode multiplex
re-lease
rushliker
Salenijdae
salutatory address
sampling system of reactor
social distance scale
subcontrols
sylvians
tercentenary
typing by looking
unhabituated
unstaled
up-todate
Zebulon