Category: News

One of the biggest new trends emerging in dentistry might also be the most dangerous.

As a growing number of videos depicting do-it-yourself dentistry hit YouTube, more and more people are avoiding the cost of visiting a dentist office to perform advanced dental procedures on themselves. What many of these people don’t realize is just how harmful DIY dentistry can be to one’s teeth.

According to an April 15 CBS New York article, many of these DIY dentistry videos show the viewer how to straighten his or her teeth at home using rubber bands, wires or even hair elastics. Some of these videos have received hundreds of thousands of views since being uploaded.

“I have seen more than one instance where harm has been done,” Dr. DeWayne McCamish, of the American Association of Orthodontists, said.

There are also a growing number of individuals who purchase over-the-counter dental first aid kits when they have an emergency in lieu of visiting the dentist, according to the UK Guardian. These kits, which are intended to serve as only a temporary fix for lost fillings, caps and crowns, are being used as permanent treatment.

It might seem like common sense to avoid the dangers do-it-yourself dentistry; but many people who can’t afford to visit a dentist or orthodontist feel there is no other alternative.

For Tina Hicks, who couldn’t afford to pay an orthodontist to fix her tooth gap, paying $20 for a set of “gap bands” seemed like an affordable solution, CBS New York reported — yet they soon became too uncomfortable for her to use.

“They were cutting into my gums. It was super painful,” she said.

Do-it-yourself dental treatments might seem like a major cost savings, but there is no substitute for dental treatment from a trained professional.

According to a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, black immigration trends are on the rise, and black immigrants are expected to become one of the fastest-growing demographics in key areas of the U.S.

The Washington Post and Breitbart News Network both note that 3.8 million black immigrants residing in the U.S. currently make up 8.7% of the total black population in the U.S.; by 2060, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, black immigrants are expected to comprise more than 16% of the country’s total black population.

The majority of American citizens with black heritage, according to the Post, can trace their heritage back to African ancestors who were brought into the country during the 1700s and early 1800s in the transatlantic slave trade. Although Africans didn’t make up a significant portion of the 30 million immigrants who came to the U.S. between 1870 and 1930, African migrants began traveling to the U.S. in earnest after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was passed.

The trend has continued to play a large role in the overall influx of migrants, and the population of black immigrants from Africa rose by 137% between 2000 and 2013.

Current immigration trends, however, suggest that the majority of new black immigrants will be coming from countries in the Caribbean. The Pew Research Report claims that the majority of black immigrants now come from Jamaica (18%) and Haiti (15%).

The report also noted that the new wave of black immigrants differs from the previous generation of African immigrants in more than just heritage; current trends suggest that “new” black immigrants tend to be older and are more likely to live above the poverty line, compared to other foreign-born immigrants in the U.S. In fact, although black immigrants in the U.S. overall are less likely to earn college degrees compared to U.S.-born citizens, the percentage of African-born black immigrants with college degrees is actually higher than the percentage of all U.S.-born citizens with college degrees.

Certain cities are naturally more likely to feel the effects of more immigration, as the report also found that black immigrant communities have begun springing up in concentrated areas, such as in Washington, D.C. and Miami.

When Larry McElroy went to shoot an armadillo, he did not think he would wind up accidentally shooting his mother-in-law.

Authorities report that after the 54-year-old South Georgian fired his 9-mm pistol at the armadillo the night of April 12, the bullet bounced off the animal, struck a fence, penetrated the back door of the mother-in-law’s mobile home, and traveled through the recliner in which she was sitting, striking her in the back.

Carol Johnson, McElroy’s 74-year-old mother-in-law, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and according to Bill Smith, the county sheriff’s investigator, was walking around and talking after the incident.

According to authorities, McElroy was not only within his rights to shoot the armadillo, but was also taking the recommended course of action.

For more than one hundred years, state courts have looked to evidence of legislative intent when construing state laws, which, in the case of Georgia, allow citizens to carry a firearm — openly or concealed — in one’s home or place of business without a license, placing McElroy well within his rights.

Shooting armadillos is also the recommended way to get rid of the pests, which inadvertently tear up homeowners’ lawns in search of the grubs they eat, according to Dougherty County Extension Coordinator James Morgan.

James Morgan, the Dougherty County Extension Coordinator said they actually recommend that residents who live in the county shoot the armadillos. Traps can also be used to capture them.

“Shooting is an effective way of getting rid of them. However, you have to be safe when you do that,” Morgan told WALB News.

However, Smith thought a shotgun might have been a better choice, telling WALB, “I really think if they’re going to shoot at varmints and whatnot, maybe use a shotgun … with a spread pattern with a lot less range.”

Of course, it’s also possible to get rid of armadillos without blasting them to smithereens. Grub pesticide, which kills the insects that armadillos are trying to eat, works well, too.

Weddings are well-known for being expensive affairs, a fact most people accept as a natural condition of celebrating a new stage in a friend or family member’s lives. However, research is now showing that the average ceremony is not only costly, but growing even more exorbitant with time. Even worse, the study doesn’t even include the cost of the honeymoon! Fortunately, the Motley Fool, a multimedia-based financial services company, has a number of tips for reducing your expenses, from inexpensive wedding flowers to favors for your guests.

Recently, the wedding-focused company The Knot surveyed 16,000 brides and grooms in the United States. The organization found that the average bride was 29 years old, while the typical groom was 31. The standard wedding, meanwhile, featured 136 guests, including four to five bridesmaids and groomsmen. But while these ceremonies sound fairly traditional, the cost of the average event was $31,213. If you think this number is astounding, you wouldn’t be alone: The Knot reports that this amount is 4.5% more than the year before, equal to $1,344.

However, it is worth noting that the number is a national one, combining averages from less expensive areas with those from more extortionate locales. Compare Utah and Manhattan, for example: according to The Knot’s recent data, the typical wedding in the Beehive State costs around $15,257, while weddings in the Big Apple average about $76,328. Moreover, the study pool consisted entirely of people connected to The Knot, a wedding company, which might attract more people from certain backgrounds and income levels than others, which could skew the results.

However, when it comes to the average prices of different aspects of the wedding ceremonies, the image created is still somewhat unnerving. For example, reception halls generally cost around $14,006, making this detail the most expensive by far. The reception bands and photographers came next, costing the happy couples an average of $3,587 and $2,556. Florists and decor took the fourth most expensive slot, an unsurprising fact given that the U.S. florist industry grew by an estimated 0.6% annually from 2009 to 2014, which likely gives many brides and grooms more options to choose from. The rest of the expenses, which include videographers, DJs, and wedding garb, range in price from $1,973 (the cost of a wedding planner) to $555 (for cake). However, other costs, such as the officiant and the rings, were not listed.

To reduce their expenses, The Motley Fool recommended that soon-to-be brides and grooms set a serious budget before anything else. Once this number is established, the company says there are plenty of ways to cut costs by paying attention to the timing and looking for discounts. For example, holding a wedding in the off-season on any other time than a Saturday evening can dramatically reduce costs, while looking for in-season flowers can be significantly cheaper. Likewise, The Motley Fool recommends looking for cheaper solutions, such as a public park for the reception or an online retailer for wedding favors. Finally, the company strongly encourage people to negotiate. While planning an affordable wedding might seem like a challenge, they point out that the less you spend, the more money you can spend on your honeymoon or as a down payment on a home!

A West Covina, California gym owner is making a difference in the lives of school-aged children, offering free running, cardio, and weight lifting classes after school four days a week. Called “Maria’s Kids After School,” the program allows children between 12 and 17 years old to go to CrossFit Insurgent after 3 p.m. for an hour of learning and exercise.

CrossFit Insurgent owner Brian Franzen first started the program to provide guidance for children whose parents could not afford organized sports. Some parents even have multiple children in the program. Corrine Carmona has had three children participate.

“Everywhere else you go, you have to pay,” she told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “I think it was so awesome of him to do that for the kids. There are a lot of parents who can’t afford it.”

As children between 10 and 16 increase their amount of physical activity, their self-esteem and self-efficacy improve.

Franzen created his after school program to help children learn. Telling the San Gabriel Valley Tribune about the recreation center where he spent much of his childhood, Franzen explains: “I learned responsibility and discipline. I feel like it’s my turn to provide something like that for the kids and families who may not have the funds to put them through organized sports.”

Teens in Danville, Kentucky are also working with similar goals in mind. Ellie Begley and Maddi Karsner, of Boyle County High School, have volunteered to teach gymnastics at the Kentucky School for the Deaf (KSD).

Gymnastics class at KSD is once a week, and is open to boys and girls of elementary school age. In the summer, class will be offered twice a week as a part of summer school, and the teens hope to continue teaching in the fall.

Because neither teen is proficient in sign language, they rely on interpreters, teachers, and parents to help them communicate with the students. In return for gymnastics training, the students are helping the teens learn to sign.

Ramona Karsner, Maddi’s mother and leader of KSD’s kindergarten through eighth grade program, has noticed the students gaining more confidence and stamina, telling the Advocate-Messenger,”These girls get to help carry on their love for gymnastics and cheer and build that into the kids…It’s a win-win situation.”

Parents wishing to enroll their children in similar programs are encouraged to look for after-school activities in their area.

A San Diego woman is suing an unlicensed acupuncturist, claiming that a procedure he mishandled caused her lung to collapse.

“I remember I was sitting there… having a hard time breathing, so I kept trying to take a deep breath,” plaintiff Jaime Del Fierro said. “I didn’t know if it was a nerve that was hit or a muscle, and maybe when I breathe it was kind of pinching the nerve, I had no idea. I mean anytime I had acupuncture before I had great results.”

Del Fierro went to Dr. Walker Scott for help with her ongoing tension headaches, paying him for chiropractic adjustments and for acupuncture procedures. When she told Scott about the pain, she says he dismissed her symptoms and sent her home. Several hours later, Del Fierro took herself to a hospital, where she then underwent surgery for what doctors told her was a collapsed lung.

“It was really, really scary for me,” she said. “I kind of went into like a really dark place because I faced mortality.”

According to the lawsuit, one of Scott’s acupuncture needles “pierced through plaintiff’s chest wall and into the pleural space surrounding her lungs, causing acute pneumothorax, a collapsed lung.”

Now, Del Fierro is suing Scott for thousands of dollars in hospital bills and damages. Sean Foldenauer, Del Fierro’s attorney, said that the lawsuit also seeks a court injunction for Dr. Walker Scott to stop performing acupuncture on patients.

Though he would not comment on the specifics of the case, Scott did say in an interview that the lawsuit came as a big surprise.

“This is my first time ever dealing with anything of this magnitude, so I guess I’ll have to say, you know, I wish I could tell you way, way more but you’ll have to give it a little while and I’ll get back to you,” he said.

In order to guard against such incidents and ensure that practitioners are properly trained, it takes five years and over 3,000 hours for the California state board to grant a license to a practitioner.

Though his website lists “electro-acupuncture” as an area of practice, state records show that Scott does not have an acupuncture license.

“It’s really important to do your homework because had I known that he wasn’t licensed, I never would have went to see him,” said Del Fierro. “I just don’t want anybody to suffer like I did. I don’t want it to ever happen again.”

The Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA), which serves State College, PA, has said the massive, bumper-to-bumper graphic advertisements that currently emblazon the sides of its buses are here to stay.

According to a February 16 StateCollege.com article, these wrap-around ads were first applied to four CATA buses in January 2014 as part of a year-long test run. In a recent meeting, CATA board members voted to make these wraps permanent, which means all CATA buses will now be emblazoned with these giant ads.

Mobile advertisements such as vehicle wraps are among the most effective methods for generating brand exposure, as more than 95% of Americans report being reached by mobile advertising regularly.

The CATA vehicle wrap ads cover almost every inch of each bus, including most of its windows. For obvious safety reasons, the front windshield and front-side windows are not covered.

Public reception to these mobile billboards has been largely mixed. Some people voiced concerns about the bus windows being covered; however, many CATA riders told StateCollege.com that the bold advertisements don’t bother them.

“Overall, the input we received was very positive,” CATA spokesperson Jackie Sheader explained. “There were a couple of concerns, mainly about aesthetics and maintaining the CATA brand on our buses.”

The bus wraps have brought a major source of funding to CATA, which had been struggling financially up until this point — CATA would have had to cut the number of bus routes it offers if it hadn’t found a way to make more money. Sheader said the four trial bus wraps helped generate $35,000 toward CATA’s bottom line in their first year of use.

Full implementation of the bus wraps will be gradual. CATA plans to have 12 of its 71 buses covered in wrap graphics by July 1, according to Sheader. If every ad opportunity is purchased, these wraps could ultimately bring in as much as $120,000 in funding for CATA each year.

In most cases involving 911 responders and life-threatening medical conditions, patients call the emergency hotline before being transported to the nearest emergency room. But for Christy Mitchell, a Georgia resident with a rare pulmonary disease, simply going to the emergency room at Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Georgia was not enough — Mitchell actually had to call 911 after arriving at the hospital’s emergency room because she wasn’t getting the immediate care that she needed.

According to CBS 46 News, Mitchell suffers from a life-threatening disease that requires medicine to be “pumped into her body every two minutes” to ensure that her blood flow stays constant and transports enough oxygen to her lungs. When Mitchell’s medicine pump suddenly malfunctioned, she called a friend to drive her to the closest hospital right away.

But when she arrived at the ER, Mitchell says that she encountered some problems when she tried to explain how serious her condition is. After offering to call up the PA who works with Mitchell regularly, and who could explain her condition to the hospital staff more fully, Mitchell was told that calling the PA wouldn’t make a difference, since that medical technician worked at a different facility which had “no jurisdiction” at the Gwinnett Medical Center.

Left with no other choices — and no hope of receiving treatment before the dozens of other patients in the ER — Mitchell says that she left the hospital and proceeded to call 911 immediately.

“Making that decision to leave the ER was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Mitchell’s friend Brannon Chappell, who had driven her to the hospital.

Chappell then drove Mitchell to a nearby shopping center, according to Fox6 News, where an ambulance arrived and provided immediate treatment to restart her medication flow.

According to Fox6 News, the specialist who normally treats Mitchell stated that he wasn’t surprised by the incident — very few people suffer from the same pulmonary disease, meaning that very few emergency medical staff know how life-threatening it can be if the medication isn’t administered on time. Beyond inserting a regular IV, the specialist explained, the staff at Gwinnett Medical Center likely had no clue how or why Mitchell’s medication had to be administered.

Although Mitchell’s case is not the norm, it’s evidence of a growing problem among hospital emergency rooms: too many patients seek treatment at emergency rooms when they don’t really need it, and patients like Mitchell are left without adequate immediate treatment. Mitchell certainly couldn’t sit around in the ER waiting room for hours until the center was able to understand her condition — she couldn’t even wait the 15 minutes that patients often encounter at urgent care clinics.

The hospital has declined to provide any specific details about Mitchell’s incident, citing mandated privacy regulations, but it did release a statement saying that “[ER] patients are assessed and treated based on acuity [and] initiation of certain treatments require physician orders to ensure patient safety.”