What is pancreatitis?
In a nutshell, pancreatitis is an inflammation of an organ called the pancreas.
The pancreas is a long, flat gland that is located behind the stomach and the upper abdomen. Enzymes are being produced by the pancreas to digest the food, especially glucose, that we get from consuming food.
There are times that pancreatitis may happen as an acute case, meaning it may happen all of a sudden and may last for days.
Pancreatitis may be a chronic case which may occur over a number of years.
There is no need for treatment for mild pancreatitis, however, severe cases may lead to life-threatening situations.
The signs and symptoms of pancreatitis may vary but there are common ones that people should be aware of.
Acute pancreatitis symptoms may include abdominal pain that radiates to the back, abdominal pain after eating, fever, rapid pulse, nausea, vomiting, and tenderness when touching the abdomen.
Signs and symptoms of chronic pancreatitis may include abdominal pain, weight loss without trying, and oily or smelly stools.
If you have persistent abdominal pain, it is wise to see your doctor. It is best to get immediate medical help especially for chronic pancreatitis.
It best to see a doctor when you are experiencing abdominal pain that is severe and you are not able to sit still or comfortably.
Pancreatitis may occur when digestive enzymes are activated while in the pancreas. This leads to the irritation of the pancreas cells and may lead to scarring and inflammation.
Repeated episodes of pancreatitis may lead to pancreas damage leading to poor pancreas function and it may also lead to lack of insulin, and eventually diabetes.
Risk factors that may lead to pancreatitis are abdominal surgery, alcoholism, use of certain medications, cystic fibrosis, gallstones, hypercalcemia, hyperparathyroidism, high triglycerides, infections, injury, obesity, and pancreatic cancer.
A treatment called endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreastography can damage the pancreas and lead to pancreatitis.
Other risk factors for pancreatitis may include smoking and family history.
Complications of pancreatitis may include pseudocyst, infection, kidney failure, breathing problems, diabetes, and malnutrition.
Pancreatitis may lead to pancreatic cancer.
Crown for Kids
(Part 3)
We are now on the 3rd part of our discussion of dental crowns for kids
We start with the discussion on the types of preformed crowns. Preformed crowns are readily available but they may be pre-contoured and untrimmed. Preformed crowns may be made in a variety of materials such as stainless steel, nickel chromium, polycarbonates and celluloid. Commonly, the stainless crowns are the most used by dentists on their patients.
Stainless crowns have been used for restorative work for extensive cavities of primary teeth since the 1950s.This crown is pre-fabricated in a variety of sizes to fit a particular tooth.
All of the processes such as tooth preparation, fitting and contouring, and cementation are done in one sitting by the dentist.
This is critical because time management is critical when working with the children’s teeth.
The preparation for the installation of dental crowns for children is easier than preparing the process done in the preparation of adult crowns.
There are some differences that will be made such as creating undercuts for better retention of the dental crown.
Dental crowns will be crimped at the neck making the metal expandable to cover the bulkiest part of the crown contracting at the cervical area of the tooth, to give a nice seal and fit.
A difference with casted dental crown is the cement being used as luting agent gets to fill the space which acts as a core build-up.
One of the indications of stainless steel may include treatment of the primary teeth with carious surfaces. Another indication is when the molars have been subjected to pulp treatment.
Amalgam restoration may lead to better replacement and helps any void fracture of a highly compromised tooth.
Stainless steel crowns may also be used to cure teeth with development defects. The stainless steel crown may act as a teeth abulments to act as space maintainer. Dentists usually check tor occlusion of the patient.
Of course, anaesthesia will be administered to make the procedure painless. Proper isolation will prevent the accidental ingestion of the dental crown. The preparation should include getting crowns In six (6) sizes. The removal of caries is best done when the preparation for crown installation begins.
Next week, we will be discussing crowns that use different materials.
Pancreatitis in Children
Let us discuss pancreatitis in children. Inflammation of the pancreas has different etiologies and among them are the following: abdominal trauma, the use of corticosteroids, obstruction of the pancreatic duct by ascaris, obstruction of the common bile duct, complications of mumps, septic emboli and extension of neighboring inflammation.
Pancreatitis in children is rare but it may occur more frequently than is currently recognized.
Clinically, it may present as sudden onset of severe abdominal pain over the epigastric or umbilical region with vomiting and sometimes constopation and slight fever.
The diagnosis of pancreatitis depends on the clinical picture of acute abdomen with increased serum amylase concentration.
The treatment of pancreatitis is conservative. Gastric suction is done in 48-72 hours. Parenteral fluids are given. Antibiotics are given since secondary infection can occur in acute pancreatitis. Mortality has decreased since amtibiotics were used.