Managing Your Health

Rob Paulsen

The famed voice actor opens up about his battle with oral cancer

you had oral cancer?

Probably the summer of 2015, I felt a small lump on the left side of my neck. I didn’t think much about it, it didn’t hurt, it didn’t affect my work, it wasn’t getting bigger as far as I could tell.

In early 2016, I visited my doctor and I said, “Hey, Doc, put your hand on this. What do you think about that?” Five seconds. I promise you, he just said “No, this is no good, Rob.” And I thought he was messing

What This Emmy Award-Winning Voice Actor Learned From His Battle With Oral Cancer

Rob Paulsen has made a career giving voices to some of the most iconic cartoon characters of multiple generations, including Yakko (of “Animaniacs”), Pinky (“Pinky and the Brain”), Donatello (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”), and many more. He opened up about his life since being diagnosed with (and eventually overcoming) oral cancer and why he’s advocating for all to stay on top of their health.

with me. But he said, “No, seriously, you need to see an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doc yesterday.”

My ENT doctor called me a few weeks later and told me I had metastatic squamous cell carcinoma with occult primary. Metastatic meant that the area to which the cancer had already spread was this lump in my neck. A primary tumor was in the base of my tongue.

Do you have any advice to others who are currently living with oral cancer?

The first piece of advice I can give is if you’re fortunate enough to have someone who’s with you, your wife, your husband, your partner, children, whomever, allow them to help you. I probably should have stopped driving myself to my treatments. I should have let my wife and my son and my daughterin-law help me more. They were kind, constantly offering to help

Bare Snacks: Less Is More™ !

Families are busier than ever. Luckily, Bare is making it easy to take real fruits and coconuts on the go in a deliciously crunchy snack.

People are increasingly aware of the impact of a healthy diet — a recent survey found that 85% of parents want to offer their kids healthier snacks. But wellness can get complicated, especially when your family keeps you on the move.

“I’ve got two sons” said Melody Macaluso, a senior director of Bare Snacks. “You don’t always have time to fix complete healthy meals. That’s why a lot of us just

ended up reaching for the most conventional quick snacks, which are often not the healthiest.”

Bare necessities

Convenience is paramount for today’s busy families, but grabbing snacks off the store shelf often requires taking the time to parse through lengthy ingredient labels.

The approach Bare Snacks has taken can be boiled down to their mantra: Less Is More™.

“Our snacks give that crunch

and flavor we all want, but with just a few ingredients, like apples, or bananas,” Macaluso explained.

Bare Snacks began when a family-owned orchard in Washington state struggled with bountiful harvests that left them with a surplus of fresh apples. They discovered that slicing and baking the apples produced a chip-like snack that had the delicious flavor and fiber of an apple with the addition of a satisfying crunch.

— I could not have been more supported.

The second thing is to take advantage of all the things that will be offered to you. Mind you, I’m assuming that people are as lucky as I was to have health insurance and great medical care. Take advantage of everything they offer you; pain medication, therapy, whatever it takes, they know what they’re doing. Take advantage of it.

Also, it sounds trite, but it’s absolutely true: laughter is the best medicine. n

Bare’s apple chips were a hit, and the brand expanded into other products, adding bananas, pineapples, and coconuts, and combining them with other ingredients like cinnamon. They’re great for snacking or as a tasty crunch accompaniment to recipes or meals.

For Macaluso, this is about more than snacks. “Your children always want to emulate your behavior when they’re really young,” she noted. “So, the fact that it’s a snack you can feel good about sharing with them is an awesome win!” n

Jeff Somers

Scan here to shop Bare Snacks on Amazon:

Publishers Jacques Srour, Abigael Younger, Sari Karpe, Victoria Melland Business Developer Joanna Tronina Managing Director Julia Colavecchia Lead Designer Kayla Mendez Lead Editor Dustin Brennan Digital Success & Production Manager Taylor Daniels Cover Photo Lesley Bohm All photos are credited to Getty Images unless otherwise specified. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve USA Today.

Laughter is the best medicine.

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How Dental Hygienists Educate Patients on the Need for Orthodontic Care

The World Health Organization says malocclusions are the third most prevalent oral health problem globally, after tooth decay and periodontal disease, which is the inflammation and infection of the gums.

Orthodontic solutions can be used to correct malocclusions. For example, ClearCorrect aligners, made by Straumann Group, are comfortable, discreet aligners made of clear, removable plastic. They can be removed to eat, brush, or floss.

Here’s how they work: Pho -

tos of the patient’s teeth are taken in a dentist’s office, and the teeth are digitally scanned. Then ClearCorrect makes the aligner trays, which are available in about two weeks. The patient must wear them 22 hours a day to straighten their teeth. They will get new trays every few weeks until they complete their treatment, which typically happens in under two years.

Starting the conversation

Often patients don’t know they could benefit from orthodontic care and/or don’t realize their dentist can assist them

with orthodontic solutions. But that conversation can start with dental hygienists. After all, the patient spends more time with the hygienist than they do with the dentist.

“They trust you more; you have a bigger role in their life,” said Tina Braesch, hygiene director of the learning and performance team at Espire Dental. “You’re not just cleaning teeth, you’re treating them as an overall person, which I think then pulls in that occlusion discussion.”

As part of a patient’s customized personal care, the hygienist should be checking a patient’s fillings, restorative work, gum health, and need for orthodontic care.

Body-mouth connection

A patient’s malocclusions go beyond aesthetics and just having a nice smile. There are overall health implications for malocclusions, which is called the body-mouth connection.

“There are certain bacteria we find in periodontal disease,” said Braesch, who’s been a hygienist for 30 years.

“When you have more crowding, you have more bacteria. When those teeth are misaligned, the bacterial load in the mouth is way higher.”

She says when bacteria are controlled, a patient’s risks for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and dementia goes down considerably. Fixing malocclusions can have other health benefits, too, such as improving sleep apnea (since improper teeth positioning can block the airway) and correcting constricted bites, which can help reduce receding gums and reducing pressure on the teeth that could otherwise cause them to crack or break.

Hygienists’ influence

Empowering hygienists to recommend orthodontic solutions could make a significant difference for many people with malocclusions. Braesch encourages hygienists to start the orthodontic solutions conversation with patients. If hygienists are shy about talking to their patients about the need for orthodontic care, she suggests using cameras to show patients photos of their respective malocclusions.

“If you aren’t suggesting or bringing up opportunities that could benefit your patients, but they can see those benefits somewhere else, they’ll go somewhere else,” she said. “We can’t fail in not suggesting it.”

That’s why it’s important to have investment from the whole dental team, including the hygienists and front office staff, and not just the dentist. Braesch says ClearCorrect has created buzz with her team. For example, the company does virtual and in-person team trainings to build knowledge about the product.

“ClearCorrect has done a great job in systemizing things to make sure it’s simple,” she said. “Because if it’s not simple, people will not continue to do it.” n

Kristen Castillo

For more information about ClearCorrect, visit straumann.com/clearcorrect/ us/en/patients.html

Nearly 75% of people globally have some level of misalignment of the teeth, known as malocclusion. That’s according to a study in the Dental Press Journal of Orthodontics.

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The Rising Need for Advanced Wound Care Solutions

To manage the rising numbers of persistent and stalled wounds, adoption of advanced therapies and a partnership between healthcare providers and patients is essential.

For most people, minor wounds heal in a few weeks and can be forgotten. But for many, wound healing stalls: According to a study of Medicare beneficiaries, approximately 8.2 million people had at least one type of wound or wound-related infection in 2018 alone. The costs of treating and managing these wounds are estimated at $28.1 billion.

Older adults are more prone to wound healing failure, and chronic conditions like diabetes or poor leg circulation can lead to foot or leg sores or ulcers — and these wounds are not always easy to treat.

“Helping patients attain closure of their chronic wounds can sometimes be very challenging, especially in those with multiple comorbidities,” explained George J. Koullias, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Advanced Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, in a case study presentation video for Organogenesis.

Quality of life

These wounds often have an emotional and mental impact on patients. “They’re often shamed and prevented from going to work,” said Vickie R. Driver, D.P.M., in an interview with Access Health. “It’s often thought that they created this problem themselves.”

Studies reveal that people suffering from venous leg ulcers or diabetic foot ulcers report not just significant pain, but also impaired mobility, depression, other mental health problems, and significant missed work. Patients suffering from diabetic foot ulcers also face the threat of amputation — 85% of all lower limb amputations in diabetic patients are preceded by a foot ulcer (Journal of Clinical Orthopaedics and Trauma, 2021).

Next-generation treatments

Wound management options for stalled wounds have increased, most notably with innovation to processing of placental tissue, which has been utilized for many years in a dehydrated form as a covering for wounds to support an environment for healing.

Recent improvements in the processing and preservation of placental tissue, such as hypothermic preservation, have enabled fresh wound care solutions that retain placental tissue elements closest to their native form. These new fresh processing technologies provide additional options to existing, proven, non-placental, FDA-approved living cell regenerative solutions.

“When I started in this field, the idea that we could develop products that help the body regenerate its own healthy tissue to heal wounds might have sounded like science fiction to many,” said Patrick Bilbo, chief operating officer of Organogenesis, which specializes

in regenerative treatment solutions. “Today, scientific advances in the field of regenerative medicine, including the processing of living cells and native placental tissue, have made it a reality.”

A partnership

But wound treatment products are only half the story. Wound care often leads to a close relationship between healthcare providers and patients due to the frequency of appointments required, and doctors must widen their focus beyond the wound itself to address the systemic factors behind persistent wounds.

Attaining patient compliance throughout the course of their treatment is a matter of communication, partnership, and education. “It is their foot or their leg,” John C. Lantis, M.D., chief of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Mount Sinai West, told Access Health. “And they’re going to have to do what I asked them to do. And sometimes it can be very discouraging for the patient, it can take a long time.”

Dr. Lantis added that while the wound may be the physician’s focus, they must keep in mind the human factor when providing care.

“It’s important to be honest,” he said, “but it’s also important to be supportive of the process that the patient is going through — this road that they’re going through to healing, and explaining to them how they’re also going to stay healed.” n

Jeff Somers