Madison, MS (PRWEB) July 11, 2014 Dr. Roger B. Parkes and R. Clarke Stewart of Periodontal Associates of Jackson, P.A. make it easier than ever before for area residents to treat their persistent gum disease and help prevent bone loss by offering the LANAP protocol, the first laser gum surgery cleared for patient use by the FDA. Patients searching for a periodontist near Madison, MS who may be concerned about traditional scalpel-based periodontal surgery can now have a procedure that restores their gum and bone health without any cuts or stitches and with minimal discomfort. The LANAP treatment utilizes the PerioLase MVP-7 laser which is able to differentiate between diseased and healthy gum tissue. It then essentially vaporizes the infected cells while leaving all others unaffected. This dramatically reduces the impact and pain during any recovery that patients experience. It also retains the maximum amount of healthy gum tissue and stimulates bone regrowth, which are critical to preventing the loss of teeth. Without enough gum and bone to hold them in place, teeth are at risk of extraction. When teeth are missing, the adjacent bone in the jaw no longer receives the stimulation that the natural tooth roots provide. This … Continue reading →

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE AP Chief Medical Writer A Mississippi girl born with the AIDS virus and in remission for years despite stopping treatment now shows signs that she still harbors HIV - and therefore is not cured. The news is a setback to hopes that very early treatment with powerful HIV drugs might reverse an infection that has seemed permanent once it takes hold. The girl is now nearly 4. As recently as March, doctors had said that she seemed free of HIV despite not having been on AIDS drugs for about two years. That was a medical first. But on Thursday, doctors said tests last week showed that she is no longer in remission. She is now back on treatment and is responding well, doctors said. The news is "obviously disappointing" and may have implications for a federal study that had been about to start testing early, aggressive treatment in such cases, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "We're going to take a good hard look at the study and see if it needs any modifications," either in terms of length and type of treatment or because of ethical concerns over … Continue reading →

EDMOND Pamela Gooch could not step out of bed on most days. Taking a shower exhausted her. Multiple sclerosis would not allow her to lift her 2-year-old son, Gooch said. On June 2, Gooch underwent an autologous stem cell transplant at Northwestern University in Chicago. Today, her chronic fatigue has vanished. Now I can do that and play with my kids and go to the park and have a picnic, said Gooch, a 41-year-old former Edmond pre-K teacher. MS remains an incurable autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. It occurs when the immune system attacks a persons myelin, a lining that protects nerve fibers. Symptoms of MS depend on where lesions form on the brain, optic nerve or spinal cord. More than 300,000 people in the United States with MS have symptoms ranging from fatigue, incontinence, dizziness, double vision, imbalance, numbness or paralysis, to speech problems and other sensory disorders. Gooch lives with progressive relapsing MS, a rare form of the disease. The pharmaceuticals used to treat MS did not prevent the explosion of brain lesions she had in April. Her right leg began to drag and she could barely walk to her driveway, she said. Her autologous stem … Continue reading →