Saturday, November 28, 2015

Karmic balancing –2 Doing Root canal treatment

This is Part 2 of the Karma article ....CLICK HERE for PART 1

Being a past life regression therapist, I have a deep understanding of karmic replay. I get to see many suffering people who, in their past lives have done things that have brought the present misery.

Being an Endodontist, the way I do root canal treatment (RCT) for my patients is the karma I am accumulating. And so are the millions of dentists around the world. Common people hardly have the knowledge of how a proper root canal treatment should be done. So a lot of things can be done in the name of root canal treatment, which makes it possible to receive money for the same tooth multiple times.

When root canal treatment is decided for a tooth, many times it is having infection in the bone surrounding the tip of the root. The root canal is harboring millions of bacteria, which produce toxins that go beyond the root into the tissues around and cause dissolving away of bone. When we clean the root canals thoroughly, removing majority of bacteria, and give a leakage proof seal, reparative mechanisms of body take over and deposit the bone that was lost due to infection.



It looks pretty simple.

But there are two things to be considered. One is that all root canals are curved (in the patient’s radiograph, it may look absolutely straight) and the diameter of the canal at the tip of the root is much larger than seen the radiograph. This is because we are seeing just a two dimensional picture of a three dimensional area. When we take a radiograph of an extracted tooth from the other direction, we can verify both these factors.





When a root canal treated tooth fails, if we cut one mm from the root tip and examine under magnification, we get to see that all the canal walls have not been touched, cleaned and properly filled. 



 Once the canals are opened and a little bit of cleaning is done, the healing starts and the patient gets relief from the problems. But if that tooth has to remain in a healed state for the rest of the patient’s life, two factors are needed.

  1. The root canal walls, especially at the tip area, should be cleaned thoroughly and filled completely.

  1. The tooth structure at the neck of the tooth should be preserved, without cutting off too much of this healthy area. This region acts as a fulcrum during chewing movements and if it is weakened, the tooth will break and then it has to be extracted.


Since all the root canals are curved, these two objectives are fulfilled only with extremely flexible instruments. By using these instruments, we are saving the tooth for a life time, or for at least many many years. This type of instruments, though manufactured (looks like they may stop making them), are not sold by companies, because then they can’t make HUGE profits.

In today’s world, it is all about the balance sheet. The multinationals benefit a lot by selling the root canal instruments that they market vigorously, which are tapered, with more bulk and rigidity.

Advantages of using these instruments

  1. Because they are stiff, they do not clean all the canal walls in the deeper areas, as they touch only half or less than half of the circumference. So after some time the lesion recurs and the patient comes back for retreatment. The dentist earns more, the company benefits.

  1. These instruments have large taper. So they weaken the neck of the tooth, leading to partial or      complete fracture of the tooth. This necessitates further complicated treatment, or removal of the tooth and implant placement. Result: more money for the dentist and company.


  1. As these instruments are rigid, their fracture rate inside the canal is very high. More cutting of the root structure is needed (further weakening the tooth) to remove the fractured instrument. For this work, different sets of instruments and microscopes are a must.

Thus, the dentist is getting more money from the same tooth and the company benefits tremendously.

Too many re-root canal treatments?

I started my endodontic work more than three decades back. I have seen many patients retain root canal treated teeth (treated just once) till their death. Now when I look around, the re- root canal treatments are on an all time high. You can also check among your relatives and friends how many of them had to get re- root canal treatments done recently and how many who got it done once 20- 25  years back are still retaining the tooth. Many patients come back with fractured tooth, even when a cap was also made, after root canal treatment.

But who cares? Dentists are earning more money per tooth, and the companies are laughing all the way to the bank!

With the availability of the flexible instruments, albeit with great difficulty to procure them, at least some patients are getting proper treatment now. Once the company stops their production, then there won’t be anything to compare with.





At the end of all this, what about the karmic debts of the dentists? Just for one patient – how is your karma of doing the root canal treatment affecting his life? Multiply it by the number of patients you do root canal treatment. How many incarnations one has to take to clear all those debts?

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Karmic balancing – 1

He is an important person of the village. The main road passes through in front of his house. He doesn’t like the sound of speeding vehicles, so using his power and money, he got two high bumps made a little far from the house on either side. No white paint was applied on them. It caused inconvenience to so many people on two wheelers, cars and loaded trucks, especially at night. The owner of the house was in a position to get this done for his comfort. Do we consider it a serious matter?



It is interesting to see how karma comes back. Strictly speaking, what karmic debt may be there for such an innocuous act? Nothing of significance, right? That is what we think when we consider our karmas. But the fact is that we never get to see the whole picture.

One night, a farmer’s daughter was passing through that road at night on her two wheeler. The sudden high bump was unexpected and she fell down and lost one front tooth. This girl was engaged to be married after a month and because she lost her front tooth, the marriage was cancelled by the boy’s parents.

The girl was heart broken and went into depression, as was her family. Tears were shed in that house every day. They managed to get her a fixed artificial tooth and another boy came forward to marry her, but demanded a high dowry. The parents wanted so much to conduct their daughter’s marriage. The father agreed to give the dowry as he was expecting a good crop from his field that year.

It so happened that there was no rain that year, the crop failed and the father had to take a huge loan to conduct the marriage. Because of that, the girl’s brother, who dreamt of becoming an engineer, couldn’t continue his studies. Seeing a bleak future in front of him, a month after his sister’s marriage, he committed suicide. This plunged his parents into a life time of sorrow and depression.

The act of getting the bump made in front of the house devastated a family. No idea how many other families were affected. In the Universe, action and reaction are always equal and opposite. Nobody escapes the karmic debts and connections.



Time moved on… another life time, different roles. The influential villager was again a man of power. He had a happy family of a loving wife and a brilliant son. This boy was the reincarnation of the boy who had committed suicide. In this life, he became an engineer. On the day of his graduation, he had a big celebration with his friends. While riding back home, he met with an accident and fell unconscious.

He was taken to the hospital, and kept on the ventilator. He never regained consciousness and after five months, decision was made to take him off the ventilator and his body was cremated.

The parents plunged into an abyss of sadness and depression. The father was at a loss to understand why this happened to him. He was a religious and helpful man. A son dying in his youth is the worst thing that can happen to any parent.

The father decided to get a past life regression done and that is when he saw that in a previous life how he got the road bump constructed and that action devastated a family. The boy who committed suicide in that life was born as his son now. He fulfilled his dream of becoming an engineer. He also made his father spend all the money they had lost in the previous life, for his upbringing, education, and hospital expense. Then he just left, throwing his father into the same sadness and depression that he and his family suffered in the previous life because of his present father’s action.

When we do things in life (karma), we see it in a different light. We never get to see the full picture of how our karma is creating ripples. So when the pay back comes, we are thrown off guard. We lament, ‘Why me? I have never done any thing bad to anybody. I am always helping others. God is cruel. We are puppets in the hands of destiny.’

This is far from the truth. God is not sitting up there to mete out punishments. Whatever we experience is all a return of our karmic debts. Now, this return may take one year, a few years, one life time or many life times. By the time we have no clue of our deeds, and to add to that, we don’t get to see the full picture.




We have to remember two things. One is to do anything with total awareness and after thinking deeply. Second is to face any unpleasant situation that comes in life with strength, calmness and a balanced mental attitude.


 Core theme courtesy B K Shivani                                                                                                                                                                        Continued.....CLICK FOR PART 2 

Sunday, November 22, 2015

From stretching stomachs to cutting them off -2

This is part 2 of the Article..CLICK HERE FOR PART 1


Once obesity sets in because of over eating, suddenly one day the thought of getting back in shape becomes strong. Although a strict regimen of reducing food quantity gradually and exercising is sure to bring results, there are some instances where this doesn’t work.


 For them, surgical methods are available now.

Bariatric surgery:

Bariatric surgery promotes weight loss by changing the digestive system's anatomy, limiting the amount of food that can be eaten and digested. This helps a person with extreme obesity lose weight. Only after they have tried other methods of losing weight will they be candidates for bariatric surgery, which today is considered a "last resort" for weight loss. It is an option for people who have a body mass index (BMI) above 40, and for people with a body mass index between 35 and 40 who have health problems like type 2 diabetes or heart disease.

The basic principle of bariatric surgery is to restrict food intake and decrease the absorption of food in the stomach and intestines. It alters or interrupts the digestion process so that food is not broken down and absorbed in the usual way. A reduction in the amount of nutrients and calories absorbed enables patients to lose weight and decrease their risk for obesity-related health risks or disorders.

Surgical and post-operative risks

People who have had bariatric surgery need to adhere to a rigorous and lifelong diet and exercise plan to prevent complications and to avoid putting on weight after surgery. In addition, patients may develop excess loose and folded skin that requires further surgery to remove and tighten.

As with all types of surgery, bariatric surgery is associated with risks including internal bleeding, deep vein thrombosis, infections, and pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs). It is estimated that the risk of dying shortly after bariatric surgery is around 1 in 200.

Types of Bariatric surgery

There are three main bariatric surgery procedures that are widely used. These are gastric bypass, gastric banding and sleeve gastrectomy.

Gastric bypass is the most commonly used bariatric procedure worldwide. The procedure involves re-routing the digestive system past the stomach in order to promote satiety and suppress hunger.

The gastric band procedure involves having an inflatable band placed around the top portion of the stomach. This creates a smaller stomach pouch, meaning eating less will make a person feel full and satisfy their hunger.



With a sleeve gastrectomy, around 80% of the stomach is removed to create a smaller stomach pouch. This reduces the amount of food that can be consumed.

Recovery time from these procedures varies from patient to patient. But it could take months for a patient to resume their normal daily activities following surgery, and many will have to follow a liquid diet and introduce normal foods slowly.

Life after bariatric surgery

This surgery can lead to long-term vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and patients must have lifelong supplementation as a result. Studies have also suggested that bariatric surgery may increase the risk of other health conditions.

It is generally believed that 80% of people who undergo weight loss surgery will experience weight gain of 10-30 pounds depending upon initial weight loss. It is further believed that 20% of those will relapse to their former weight and possibly gain more as the disease of morbid obesity advances. Remember, the stomach muscles are elastic. You ingest more food, it can enlarge again.

Considering all these factors, the saying ‘Prevention is better than cure’ is truer in this context than in any other. So, what are you waiting for? Take a good look at the food on your plate. Do you really need to eat that much?


From stretching stomachs to cutting them off -1

You can eat to live or live to eat, the choice is yours. There are many aspects to the latter way of living. When we eat more than our share, we are contributing to the hunger of people who go without food around the world. Then we are making our organs overwork to digest and store the excess food as fat in the body. And every body knows obesity can lead to many chronic diseases.

If we look at the changing social scenario over the years, it is clear that food obsession is definitely on the increase. And the dinner time is getting more and more delayed. At one end of the spectrum, there are people who have their dinner before sunset and at the other end the dinner table is set only after 10 pm.  Sleeping soon after the dinner also leads to diseases.

Stomach has elasticity

Our stomach is elastic in nature. The more we eat, the more it gets stretched. And when we do that as a habit, the size of the stomach increases and then unless we eat the same amount, we feel hungry. This property of stomach also makes it possible to gradually decrease the amount of food consumed and you can come back to a stage when the stomach feels full with the ideal quantity of food you need. But this can’t be achieved overnight.

How are people increasing the size of their stomach? Let’s start from the tea and coffee that is consumed daily. I saw that our tea cups at home hold 125 ml of tea/coffee. 


When we go to have coffee at the Star Bucks, I am amazed at the quantity of coffee people drink. We buy one medium sized cup of coffee and between my husband and me, we find it difficult to finish that. And I see people around having large cups!



                              See multinational's trick to make you consume more and more.

Now this increase in size has invaded homes too. Look at the coffee cup sizes you see in TV programmes. You keep watching that and next time you go the market, you get those huge cups as you think it is the ‘in thing’ now.





During parties and get togethers, when I see the amount of appetizers being gobbled, I really wonder from where the space is created for the huge amount of food that is consumed during the ‘main course’.

                                          
                                          Appetizers- usually one wants to taste all varieties 

Effect on the body

Over time, all these foods that one has consumed shows up in the body as bulging abdomen and obesity. 




Self image is also very important in the social circle. So they start looking for methods to regain the body shape. And most of us want quick fix. But the truth is that only gradual and consistent reduction will be long lasting.

The remedy?

As mentioned earlier, one has to gradually keep reducing the amount of food eaten per meal .Those above forty (or at least fifty) should start eating only salads or fruits (whichever they prefer) for dinner, preferably before sun set. Habit of drinking warm water should be developed, and never reach for that water bottle in the refrigerator!

Exercising is also very crucial for weight reduction. One can choose from yoga, walking, running or aerobics. Determination and persistence are required to achieve the weight reduction, and you are sure to succeed!